It's been 96 days since President Joe Biden held a formal press conference with reporters. In the weeks since, he's taken few questions. After making major announcements from the White House, he's repeatedly turned his back on Americans and walked away from the lectern.
On Thursday, Biden is set to participate in a CNN town hall.
"President Joe Biden will participate in a CNN town hall on Thursday in Baltimore, where he'll take questions as his administration continues to sell his ambitious legislative agenda to members of Congress and the nation," CNN announced Tuesday. "CNN anchor Anderson Cooper will moderate the live broadcast event, which will air at 8 p.m. ET on CNN and last 90 minutes."
But there's a catch. All of the participants and questions will be pre-screened.
"A CNN spokesperson said an invitation-only audience will be present at the town hall and the network will follow all local and state Covid-19 guidance and regulations to ensure a safe event. The town hall's location will be announced in the coming days," the announcement continues.
The news of the event has sparked criticism of Biden's lack of interviews with other networks, journalists and even opinion columnists.
Number of Anderson Cooper town halls as President: 2
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 18, 2021
Number of sit downs w/ WSJ, NYT, or Wapo reporters (not columnists): 0
https://t.co/EBRZGPvDve
A CNN invitation-only audience with pre-scripted questions is very different from facing the press, which Biden now hasn’t done for 95 days. https://t.co/hcZj4AFrhC
— Kelsey Bolar (Harkness) (@kelseybolar) October 19, 2021
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