WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is doing something unusual with his summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard: He’ll come back to Washington midway through the getaway to attend White House meetings.
The president and his aides for years have fended off questions about the timing of his vacations by arguing that Obama is president at all times and can do the job wherever he is since he travels with the advisers and communications equipment he needs to carry out his duties.
Obama is scheduled to arrive on the wealthy island off the Massachusetts coast on Saturday and return to Washington a week later, on Sunday, Aug. 17. Plans call for him to return to the Vineyard on Aug. 19 to resume the vacation, which ends five days later on Aug. 24.
Spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama will attend “in-person meetings” with White House staff. He declined to say who would attend the meetings or what they are about.
“This is an opportunity for the president to do some in-person meetings here at the White House, just for a day or two, before he returns to Martha’s Vineyard,” Earnest said Thursday.