White House Reporters Revolt After Karine Jean-Pierre Announces Biden Will Not Hold Press Conference During Ireland Trip
Reporters lashed out at White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre after she confirmed President Joe Biden will not hold a press conference during his four-day trip to Ireland, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The shocking revolt took place on Monday shortly after White House National Security spokesman John Kirby indicated it was unlikely President Biden would hold a press conference while overseas this week.
“I don’t expect there’ll be a news conference on this trip,” Kirby said during Monday’s press briefing.
Immediately after Jean-Pierre returned to the podium, she was ambushed by a barrage of questions regarding President Biden and his apparent disregard for providing the media and the American people with formal press conferences.
“I represent a news organization that owns 113 television stations,” charged Gray TV reporter Jon Decker. "And a question that I’m often asked — and I don’t know the answer to, so I’ll ask you that question: Is the administration trying to protect the President from our questions?”
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” Jean-Pierre responded.
“Then why the lack of any interaction in a formal setting to have a press conference?” Decker pressed further.
“The President many times has stood in front of all of you, has taken questions on his own, because he wanted to see what was on your minds, he wanted to see what the questions you all were going to ask him, and he wanted to answer them directly,” Jean-Pierre responded further.
“That has happened multiple times — many times during this administration. And that will certainly continue to be,” she continued. “When it comes to a formal press conference, I don’t have anything to share with you at this time.”
When the reporters in the room informed Jean-Pierre that Biden’s lack of press conferences is “not the norm” when compared to his predecessors, she responded that “it is also unprecedented that a President takes as many shouted questions.”
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At that point, the press briefing room erupted in shouting. One reporter yelled, “Donald Trump took questions practically every day!”
According to Mediaite, although Biden has not held nearly as many formal press conferences as his predecessors at this point in their administrations, the current commander-in-chief has participated in many more informal Q&A sessions than those in the White House before him.
Current numbers estimated that Biden has participated in 326 informal Q&A sessions since taking office in January 2021, while Trump participated in 255 and former President Barack Obama only participated in 68.
The only recent president to hold more informal Q&A sessions than Biden at this point in their presidency was Bill Clinton, who, after two years in office, held 373.
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Although it is unclear why President Biden prefers not to hold formal press conferences with reporters, sources suggested it is due to the leader’s penchant for verbal blunders and slipups when answering questions.
Other sources suggested Biden prefers more informal settings as a result of his 36 years as a U.S. senator.