(Editor’s note: This story was first published August 9, 2024 at 6:56 p.m. EDT, However, will be republished with additional comments in lithe of additional media reports on this issue.)
On Friday afternoon, the Oversight Project, which obtained the recordings through a Freedom of Information Act request, released audio recordings from the Las Vegas Metro Police Department’s protective detail for President Joe Biden on July 17. Those records corroborate RedState’s reporting that Biden was first headed to University Medical Center, a trauma center, after suddenly canceling a speaking engagement, reportedly due to illness, and then was suddenly diverted directly to Harry Reid International Airport.
EXCLUSIVE: Sources say Joe Biden suffered a neurological event before suddenly leaving Las Vegas
Biden arrived in Las Vegas on July 16 and gave a speech to the NAACP that went well by Joe Biden’s standards. However, he was an hour slow.
Take a look: President Joe Biden stopped by Mario’s Westside Market after two speeches in Las Vegas. Channel 13’s Steve Sebelius breaks down Biden’s speech and Republican reaction.https://t.co/1xxbS6oytm pic.twitter.com/t6IoJt8cUP
— KTNV | Channel 13 News Las Vegas (@KTNV) July 17, 2024
The next day, Biden was scheduled to leave Mandalay Bay for a meet-and-greet at Lindo Michoacan, an iconic Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas, before returning to the Strip to the MGM Grand to speak at the Unidos conference. He was also very slow for this, as can be seen from the recordings.
President Joe Biden was seen as a superspreader at a Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas just an hour before he announced he had Covid. At 5:20 p.m. Eastern Time, Michelle Villegas, Biden’s National Latino Engagement Director, released the following video from Las Vegas.@michelleavilgs… pic.twitter.com/facE4sapre
— Editor (@David_TJV) July 18, 2024
However, before leaving Lindo Michoacan, Biden gave an interview to a Univision reporter. After that interview, things went wrong. An officer announces over the radio to the LVMPD portion of the protective detail that “they are on hold for something related to the President” and then that “POTUS is Code 421,” meaning a ailing or injured person, and that this is a ailing or injured person is seen acting. The motorcade then began securing a route to University Medical Center, a Level 1 trauma center, when a voice came over the audio saying, “Channel, if you haven’t heard that, 678 says you don’t have a priority call.” to clear up and be on your way to a 461 at the UMC meeting point at the Valley ER parking lot.
Sometime afterward, with the route to UMC almost secured, plans suddenly changed and LVMPD officers were asked to secure the route from Lindo Michoacan to the tarmac at Harry Reid International Airport, where Air Force One was waiting.
“Coordinating closure of intersections with lights from Desert Inn to Russell.
“Units on the Event Channel will move with the package.”
The three recordings span a period of a few hours and are not time stamped, making it challenging to determine exact time frames from them. Two of the clips, each about four minutes long, come from the general channel, where LVMPD coordinated additional units (i.e., units not involved in the protective effort) to paralyze traffic and secure routes after the sudden change in plans. The third, the event channel for the officers involved in the protection force, is around 43 minutes long. We’re sharing the full audio here so readers can listen for themselves.
In both four-minute clips, officers are asked to respond in Code 3, which is an emergency posture.
Here is the first:
And the second.
Although this clip is marked as “redacted,” it is the 43 minute long clip.
About 21 minutes into the clip, one of the officers asks if anyone else is available to speak on the phone, and next comes: “To everyone on the radio: Right now you’re on hold because of something involving the President,” instructing the officers. to allow some traffic at the intersections while waiting.
Shortly afterwards the protection squad is informed:
“For everyone on the radio, right now it’s POTUS 421. He’s being seen, so we’ll just wait and see how that plays out. As far as everyone knows, he is currently 421; We’re just trying to figure out what’s going on and we’ll go from there.”
According to code 421, it is a ailing or injured person LVMPD code sheet.
After that, there are about 20 frantic minutes of coordination as the protection unit quickly shifts its resources from the route between Lindo Michoacan and MGM Grand, where Biden was scheduled to speak, to instead secure a route from Lindo Michoacan. All units were again asked to respond to Code 3.
