Officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department rushed to clear roads and secure the perimeter of a hospital that had been placed on standby to treat President Joe Biden for a medical issue last month, according to radio transmission recordings obtained by the Daily Beast.
It remains unclear what exactly the undisclosed medical issue was, though the White House announced later that day he had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
“Meet at the Valley Hospital ER parking lot. We’re going to meet behind the ER entrances, where the ambulances go,” an officer says in one of the transmissions, which were sent to the Daily Beast in response to a public records request to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The radio transmissions were broadcast on July 17, after the president abruptly canceled a speaking engagement on a campaign trip in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was set to address Hispanic voters at the UnidosUS event.
At 2:15 p.m. local time the same day, the University Medical Center (UMC) hospital was alerted of an unspecified medical emergency involving Biden, which was first reported by KSNV Las Vegas.
While details about the emergency were scant, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMP) quickly mobilized outside the hospital, securing a perimeter around the facility.
“Again, any available units, come down here to Valley Hospital right now,” the officer who made the initial broadcast about the president said. When another officer tells him he has four units on route, he responds: “I need more.”
“I need to get all the major interactions shut down, but lights shut down from Desert Inn all the way down to Russell… start with the big ones,” an officer said, citing “the POTUS” movement in one of his transmissions. All officers must be “decked out in readily identifiable police gear,” he adds.
Meanwhile, UMC’s staff “stood ready,” hospital CEO Mason Van Houweling told KSNV at the time, setting up an incident command center in anticipation of the president’s arrival.
“We knew we were dealing with more of a medical issue—definitely trauma and any accidents were off the table. So again, we shifted gears to be able to address a medical need here at UMC,” Van Houweling said.
In one of the radio transmissions shared with the Daily Beast, a police officer warns that “we gotta take this one slow ’cause we don’t have a lot of resources to make it work.”
“Everybody just keep in mind safety, safety, safety. If it doesn’t look good, don’t do it… no one gets hurt.”
Biden was never admitted to the hospital, however. Instead, the president was taken directly to the airport, where he boarded Air Force One and departed Las Vegas for Delaware.
In another set of police radio broadcasts—which appear to feature LVMPD officers assisting the Secret Service as Biden was being driven to the airport—an officer asks: “Do we know if the Secret Service has drones flying over the stratosphere right now?”
Towards the end of one recording, an officer thanks his units for how they handled the incident.
“All my units at the airport, be advised that the motorcade is at Air Force One,” he says. “I just wanna let everybody know. Great work out there. You know we put that together ad hoc… appreciate all the resources coming over. You guys did a fantastic job that looked like we had planned it for weeks, so great job everybody.”
A week later, the LVMPD released a statement saying that they had been informed that the president was sick without further details, adding that they had proactively started clearing roads to the hospital.
Addressing Biden’s sudden departure from Nevada, the White House released a statement on July 17 saying that the president had been diagnosed with COVID.
“Earlier today following his first event in Las Vegas, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19. He is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms. He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement released later that day.
“The White House will provide regular updates on the President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation.”
Just four days later, Biden—already plagued with questions about his apparent frailness and cognitive capacities, made worse by his dismal performance in a debate against Trump on June 27—dropped out of the 2024 U.S. presidential race.
“While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” the president wrote in a letter posted to X.
Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his stead in a later post that same day. Harris formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination on Aug. 6, and has since selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
Harris is set to debate former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, for the first time on Sept. 10.
