All presidents avoid reporters occasionally, but President Joe Biden is taking the gold medal for achieving a record in press avoidance.
This week, a White House reporter called him out on it.
During a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sidestepped a reporter's question asking Biden to come out of hiding and talk to the American people as scandals regarding his family continue to swirl.
"As far as questions about the president's health, I think that would be all cleared up if we could just ask him to step out of that door into this room for 45 minutes. So, I ask you again to pass that along to him, to ask him to come out and see us," the reporter said.
However, instead of addressing the question, Jean-Pierre went off into a rant about how "good" the economy is and that Biden has done so much during his first two years in office.
"I appreciate the request. Thank you for the request. The president, as you know, you know, again, I appreciate the question, and I get it… This is a president that has done more in the first two years, two and a half years when it comes to the economy," Jean-Pierre said.
Biden has held fewer press conferences than any other president in recent history.
Several reasons for this:
- The 80-year-old president can barely make it through the afternoon without needing a nap.
- Biden would be forced to address his family's corrupt dealings— where he and his equally evil son pocketed millions through shady business ventures with foreign countries.
Biden held his first press conference two months after he was inaugurated, the longest a new president has gone without holding a press conference in 100 years. During his first year in office, he held a total of 10 press conferences – most of which featured him reading prepared remarks and then being whisked away by reporters before he could take questions from reporters.
In 2021, the White House Correspondents' Association accused Biden of lacking "accountability to the public," noting that Biden had diminished what a free press means and that "every other president before Biden allowed full access to the very same spaces."