By now, we’re all used to Joe Biden saying weird things in press conferences. He’s fond of telling the press that he might get in trouble if he answers too many questions or that he has a list of reports that his handlers (the mysterious “they”) say he can call on. Sometimes he’ll ignore reporters as they pepper him with questions or snap a one-word reply.
Once in a while, the Uniter in Chief gets testy with reporters — usually, it’s a Fox News reporter. On Tuesday, at a press conference at the G7 in Italy, the president snapped at Bloomberg correspondent Josh Wingrove when Wingrove dared ask a question that wasn’t about Biden’s favorite foreign policy topic: Ukraine.
Instead, Wingrove asked a question about Hamas. “Do you believe that they are trying to work towards a deal or is this response against a deal?” he asked.
“I wish you guys would play by the rules a little bit,” Biden snapped. “I’m here to talk about a critical situation in Ukraine, and you asked me about another subject.”
Biden holds a VERY RARE, highly scripted "press conference" — then scolds the press for asking him a question: "I wish you guys would play by the rules a little bit"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 13, 2024
ATTACK ON THE FREE PRESS! DEMOCRACY DIES IN DARKNESS! DISGUSTING! pic.twitter.com/RX6RRA0h9S
What’s interesting, as Deadline points out, is that Biden took a question from Colleen Long of the Associated Press earlier in the presser. Long asked a Ukraine question and followed it up with a question about Hunter Biden, which the president answered without chiding her about not following the “rules.”
I don’t know anything about Wingrove’s political leanings, but based on what I’ve covered of Long’s writing for the AP, she’s a dutiful member of the left-leaning mainstream media. So that might be why she received a pass from Biden while Wingrove got an earful.
Recommended: Why Is the Biden Admin Hanging Israel Out to Dry? It's Politics.
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) begs to differ with the president on the “rules” that he insists are there for reporters to follow. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, the WHCA president, issued a statement saying as much.
“The White House Correspondents’ Association believes it is in the public interest to make clear that at a presidential press conference, at home or abroad, there are no preconditions regarding question topics,” the statement began.
“While the White House does determine the number of reporters the president will recognize, it is up to professional journalists to decide what to ask,” O’Donnell continued. “Any leader may prefer that reporters ask only one question or ask only about a topic that is of most interest to the president or another world leader, but a free press functions independently.”
She concluded the statement with what sounds like a barb at Biden: “WHCA would welcome more opportunities to pose a range of questions to the president in a press conference setting.”
It's telling that even the more sycophantic press members see fit to push back against the "rules" that Biden insists govern his press conferences. It makes one wonder if they're beginning to get tired of his shtick, too.
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