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Biden swats cicada off neck before Europe trip: 'Watch out'
By Audrey Conklin
Published June 09, 2021
President Biden on Wednesday morning swatted a cicada off his neck ahead of his trip to Europe for the G-7 Summit.
Separately, a flight from Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia to the U.K. carrying reporters covering the president was delayed for several hours Tuesday due to an issue with cicadas, White House officials said.
"Watch out for the cicadas," Biden told press ahead of takeoff. "I just got one — got me."
A brood of the giant bugs has exploded across areas of the Northeast after living underground for about 17 years — the time it takes for periodical cicadas to mature into adults.
The president will meet with G-7 and NATO allies during his trip to discuss ways to address the coronavirus pandemic and an increasingly aggressive China and Russia.
Biden departed Joint Base Andrews in Maryland Wednesday morning and is set to arrive in the United Kingdom Wednesday night local time. His first order of business will be a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, before joining G-7 leaders for the group's summit over the weekend.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-cicada-europe-trip