Journalists keep stealing Air Force One-branded items from the presidential airliner: report
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- Members of the White House Correspondents' Association routinely travel on Air Force One.
- They also, apparently, routinely take branded goodies from the presidential airliner.
- It's become such a problem the group's president recently privately chastised its members.
Journalists traveling aboard the Air Force One presidential airliner keep nabbing its many branded knickknacks. Now the White House is trying to put a stop to it.
Following a multi-day trip with the press aboard, members of the Air Force took inventory of the plane and found several items missing, according to Politico. After alerting the White House Travel Office about the missing pieces, White House Correspondents' Association president and NBC reporter Kelly O'Donnell reportedly sent a curt email to her colleagues telling them to knock it off.
Air Force One —technically the air traffic control call sign for any plane carrying the president — has contained many a tchotchke emblazoned with a presidential seal and the call sign, like napkins, matchbooks, playing cards, boxes of M&Ms, and Hershey's Kisses.
Though some of these, like snacks and napkins, of course, are meant to be nabbed and used, that hasn't reportedly stopped journalists from taking items meant to be more permanent, like pillowcases, glasses, and gold-rimmed dinnerware.
Amenities on Air Force One generally aren't intended to be free for most of its guests: White House staffers are charged for every meal — and sometimes, even snacks — they eat aboard the plane, Politico previously reported.
The White House gift store sells plenty of Air Force One-branded items on its site — mugs, golf balls, jackets, and more — but goods taken from the plane consistently appear on non-government shops online like eBay and presidential collectibles sites.