President Joe Biden referred to a list provided by his staff as he addressed reporters at his first news conference in eight months.
His shock announcement crucially weakened his defense against accusations that staff are running the White House, staging Biden and limiting his participation in unscripted events and meetings.
“Now I’ll answer your questions. You’ve been given a list of people that I’m going to call here,” Biden said at the end of his prepared remarks, mumbling though he was reading from a teleprompter.
Biden paused to check the list, then read it: “Reuters, Jeff Mason.”
While answering the first question, Biden made another gaffe by referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.”
He continued to give rehearsed answers as he read off the list of reporters he was given, but the long silences and inaudible mutterings did not inspire any credibility.
“I love my staff but they create more work,” he said when asked if he could handle the workload. “My wife treats me badly.”
Biden arrived more than 45 minutes late, despite having postponed the news conference at least twice in the preceding hours.
Bradley Jay is Capitol Hill correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter. translator.
