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First Lady Jill Biden surprised National Guard members at the United States Capitol on Friday and delivered cookies, a gesture of kindness “to protect me and my family” during President Biden’s inauguration earlier this week.
“I just want to say thank you to President Biden and the entire Biden family,” she told a group of Guard members in her first public appearance since taking office.
“The White House baked you chocolate chip cookies,” she said, before joking that she couldn’t say she baked them herself.
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Saying, “The Biden are a family of the National Guard,” First Lady Jill Biden greets National Guard members with chocolate chip cookies Friday, January 22, 2021, at the United States Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin, swimming pool)
Nearly 25,000 troops descended on Washington, DC, in the days leading up to the inauguration, as officials remained on heightened alert for Red actors seeking to stoke violence. The ultra-defensive posture came after rioters stormed the Capitol building earlier this month in protest against Biden’s presidential victory.
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Jill Biden’s visit with the National Guard was particularly sentimental for her, as she remembered her stepson Beau Biden, a former member of the Delaware National Guard who spent a year in Iraq. He later died in 2015 at the age of 46 after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, a rare form of brain cancer.
“So I am a mother of the National Guard,” she told the crowd, adding that the baskets were a “small thank you” for leaving their home country and coming to the national capital. President Biden thanked the National Guard bureau chief in a phone call Friday.
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“I really appreciate everything you do,” added the first lady. “The National Guard will always hold a special place in the heart of all the Bidens.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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