Friday marked the official kickoff of President Biden's re-election campaign, but as of 2024, only First Lady Jill Biden has granted interviews.
It has been announced that the first lady will sit down with MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski to discuss her “life, career and the pivotal year ahead” at a White House event this week. Her liberal “Morning Joe” co-hosts won't let her succumb to her vitriol, following a pattern of friendly interviews that her husband's White House has greenlit in recent months. Dew.
Jeffrey McCall, a DePauw University professor and media commentator, said it was a “miscalculation” for Team Biden to cast the first lady as a campaign surrogate, or at least someone with a larger media presence than the candidate herself. said.
“Voters should be able to infer that she's only giving interviews because the president can't or won't,” McCall told Fox News Digital.
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President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attend an event commemorating the third anniversary of the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot at Montgomery County Community College on Friday, January 5, 2024, in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States. (Hannah Baier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The last news platform to run an interview with Biden was on “60 Minutes” on Oct. 15 by CBS correspondent Scott Perry, focusing primarily on the president's response to the Hamas attack on Israel that occurred days earlier. was.
Questions he posed to the president include: “Why do you feel so strongly about talking to these families?” [of American hostages in Gaza] “Is the safe return of American hostages your top priority right now?'' “Is the dysfunction we've seen in Congress increasing the danger in the world?'' “Why do you feel so strongly?'' ” What does Israel mean to you? ”
President Trump criticizes '60 Minutes' softball interview with Biden: 'They guided him like a lost child'
The “60 Minutes” interview was slammed by former President Trump, Biden's potential 2024 opponent, who wrote on Truth Social that CBS News “led him astray.” Ta.
“Each question contained an answer and was asked so weakly and apologetically that it was a joke that should have been considered a campaign contribution to the Democratic Party,” Trump exclaimed. .
President Biden last gave an interview on “60 Minutes” with CBS correspondent Scott Perry in October, and was criticized by critics, including former President Trump. (CBS/Screenshot)
Since “60 Minutes,” Biden has given interviews with Spanish radio host Tony Arias, CNN's Anderson Cooper on a podcast about grief, and comedian Conan O'Brien. She also had a brief phone conversation with NBC's Al Roker during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and a brief phone conversation with Ryan Seacrest during ABC's New Year's Eve broadcast.
“Joe Biden seems prepared to use the same campaign in 2020 as he did in 2020, the so-called “basement strategy,'' which involves no involvement in uncontrolled situations and only a compliant media. , to make the election about Donald Trump,'' William A. Jacobson, a Cornell Law School professor and media commentator, told FOX News Digital. “With Biden remaining in the 'basement', media attention will continue to be focused on President Trump. Whatever downsides there are to the basement strategy, it is Biden's best strategy.”
Biden wandered off-set as Nicole Wallace rapping softball in MSNBC interview
Perhaps the last time Biden faced tough questions in an interview was in February 2023, when he was grilled by PBS NewsHour's Judy Woodruff and ABC's David Muir about the classified documents scandal in two sit-downs. It must have been when This was followed by “The Daily Show” guest host (and former Obama aide) Kal Penn, Roker, MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhl and Nicole Wallace, and CNN's Fareed Zakaria. It was a series of friendly interviews, including John, British Wellness Podcast host Jay Shutt, and The Weather Channel's Stefani. Abrams and ProPublica's John Harwood.
According to data from the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, both Biden and Trump outperformed former President Barack Obama, who gave more than 20 interviews to multiple news organizations, including Fox News, during the same period of his presidential term. Ta.
President Biden raised eyebrows when it was announced that he had agreed to an interview with the Weather Channel. (Screenshot/Weather Channel)
New York Times reporter slams Biden for only allowing interviews with 'friendly talk show hosts'
Mr. Biden has held fewer press conferences than any modern president, averaging 11 a year so far, about half of Mr. Trump's average of 22 and Mr. Obama's average of 20, according to the American Presidency Project. .
When he holds press conferences alone, he calls from a list of reporters pre-selected by his staff and rarely takes questions from others. And for joint press conferences with other world leaders, Biden will only call on two pre-selected American reporters, in addition to two foreign reporters who can ask questions of the two leaders.
President Biden walks past reporters outside the White House (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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The White House has repeatedly rejected the idea that it is restricting his access to the press, noting that he regularly fielded angry questions from reporters. But that probably won't sit well with his critics.
“I think the media should be more vocal about not having access to the president,” McCall told Fox News Digital. “It is rather undemocratic to have a president who is inaccessible to the press and the public, despite the threat to democracy being voiced.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
