“This isn’t the nuclear button, is it?” I joke, pointing. Sitting across from Donald Trump in the Oval Office, my eyes are drawn to a little red button on a box that sits on his desk. Like Pace, Sevastopulo also noted that Trump could press the button to “order some Cokes”:

With the push of a red button placed on the Resolute Desk that presidents have used for decades, a White House butler soon arrived with a Coke for the president.”ĭemetri Sevastopulo relayed a similar anecdote for the Financial Times. “A man accustomed to wealth and its trappings, Trump has embraced life in the Executive Mansion, often regaling guests with trivia about the historic decor. Here’s an excerpt from reporter Julie Pace’s article “Nearing 100 days, Trump says his presidency is ‘different’” that was published by The Associated Press: At the time, reports stated that this button summoned a regular “Coke” for the president. Trump’s soda button first made the news in April 2017, when news outlets published articles concerning Trump’s first 100 days in office. “They used to be there for emergencies, but now I use them for ordering tea for my guests.” Richard Branson, the CEO of Virgin Airlines, wrote in his autobiography that Obama once told him the button was used to order tea for his guests:Īs we stood up to leave I noticed the red buttons on his desk.

It’s unclear how Biden will use this service button, but he will be able to use it, like his predecessor, to order Diet Cokes or anything else available at the White House. It should also be noted that Biden still has access to this usher call button and photographs show him in the Oval Office with this button on his desk. Bush also had service buttons in the Oval Office that they could use in a similar fashion. Photographs show that former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. However, this call button wasn’t the invention of the Trump administration. Trump truly had a button in the Oval Office that he used to order Diet Cokes. This, of course, begged the question: Did former President Donald Trump have a Diet Coke button in the Oval Office? President Joe Biden settled into the Oval Office the day after his inauguration, a report started circulating that the newly-elected president had removed a “Diet Coke button” from the Oval Office.

Trumps red button on desk