Marco Rubio recalled a tense Air Force One flight where officials spent an hour fearing an unresponsive passenger was dead before discovering they were fine.
Rubio discussed the episode during an appearance on the Katie Miller Podcast,
describing a situation that began as an ordinary observation but gradually became a source of concern when the individual appeared unusually difficult to rouse. According to Rubio, the incident occurred while officials were returning from China. At some point during the flight, they noticed a person asleep inside a conference room aboard the presidential aircraft.
What initially appeared to be routine quickly became more unsettling as the individual seemed to remain unresponsive despite activity and noise taking place nearby. Officials were reportedly left uncertain about how to proceed. Waking the person could have interrupted someone who was simply experiencing an exceptionally deep sleep, but failing to intervene carried an obvious risk if the individual was actually suffering a medical problem.