A White House official said Saturday that a small private jet entered the airspace over the beach house where Joe Biden is spending the weekend, saying it was not an “attack.”
However, he added, “precautionary measure has been taken.”
The president and his wife, Jill Biden, were briefly evacuated before returning to their residence in the seaside resort of Rehoboth, located less than 200 kilometers east of Washington.
Both were “fine,” said the unwilling official, who determined that the presidential couple were not in danger.
“Shortly before 1:00 pm (17:00 GMT), a private plane entered the restricted airspace over Rehoboth after mistakenly entering a safe area,” the Secret Service, the security service, said in a statement.
The aircraft was immediately escorted out of restricted airspace.
It was determined that “a preliminary investigation showed that the pilot was not using the correct radio channel”, “did not respect” instructions issued by the authorities, and “did not follow the stated path”.
The statement concluded that “the Secret Service will conduct an interview with the pilot.”