President Biden held a calm one-on-one meeting Friday. howard stern — a day after the New York Times published a statement condemning the 81-year-old, who shies away from the press more than any commander-in-chief in modern times.
The former shock jock’s questions ranged from praising Biden’s new airline reimbursement policy (which, in Stern’s words, is “very nice”) to asking if the president’s parents were politicians to asking about the Biden school. He talks about a wide range of topics, including talking about his experiences playing boy football and meeting his first wife, Neilia.
At one point, the “Private Parts” star gushed that Biden has lived a “very cinematic life,” but it was unclear whether that was a joke about the president’s many questionable anecdotes.
While the conversation with Stern added to Biden’s limited number of interviews, the president still conducted by far the fewest internal interrogations of chief executives in recent years, and White House Transition Project Director Martha Mr. Joynt Kumar is still doing the counting. , indicating that they are not particularly close.
Kumar said Biden has only given a total of 89 interviews in his first three years in office.
During the same period of their first terms, Donald Trump received 300, Barack Obama 422, George W. Bush 135, and Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush 168 each. According to the tally, Ronald Reagan conducted 189 interviews during the 2018 election. .
Mr. Biden’s interviews are often on friendly channels like MSNBC, or the tapings may be postponed for several days.
Earlier this month, Univision conducted interviews with Biden over a six-day period between recording and release, but only three interviews were conducted with his podcast “Smartless” co-hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes. The full text of the president’s interview on May 28 will not be released until Monday.
Biden has only held three press conferences alone at the White House and only 33 joint press conferences with other world leaders.
Even these rare occasions feature a man in his 80s taking questions from a pre-selected list of reporters, then reading the answers from a notecard.
According to Kumar, in his third year in office, President Trump had 54 reporters, Obama 65, W. Bush 67, Clinton 113, and H.W. Bush 119. Mr. Reagan had only 21 people.
On Thursday, the Times accused Biden of refusing to grant further interviews with independent news outlets.
“For anyone who understands the role of a free press in a democracy, it should be alarming that President Biden has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his term. The president holds the most important office in our country, and news organizations play an important role in providing insight into the president’s thinking and worldview, allowing the public to assess his performance and hold him accountable. There is.” The statement has begun.
“Mr. Biden has granted far fewer press conferences and sit-down interviews with independent journalists than virtually all of his predecessors,” the Times added, noting that publisher AG Sulzberger told the White House , pointed out that he urged Biden to sit down with the Wall Street Journal and other newspaper companies. Reuters — Even if they want to avoid a recorded interview with the Gray Lady.
“Systematically avoiding interviews and questions from major news outlets not only undermines important norms, but also establishes a dangerous precedent that future presidents can use to avoid oversight and accountability.” It will be too.”
The White House has long maintained that Mr. Biden presents himself to the press by answering impromptu questions, such as when he leaves for Marine One.
But Kumar said such interactions have taken place 535 times so far during Biden’s term, due to the noise of helicopters and the lack of time for thorough interrogations.
