President Biden did not give a formal press conference 50 days after his presidency, drawing criticism from ABC News about the “blatant” contrast in transparency with predecessor Donald Trump.
“In the middle of his first 100 days, President Joe Biden has yet to give a formal and solo press conference, raising questions about responsibility to the White House under increasing pressure to explain why,” ABC News reported.
“The contrast with former President Donald Trump was especially striking, especially given Biden’s repeated promises to Americans that he would always be ‘outspoken’ and ‘transparent’.”
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Instead, Biden’s interactions with the press were largely relegated to brief responses to questions shouted after the formal comments ended. White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who holds daily briefings, insists that Biden answers questions, but ABC dismissed this as “often without significant comings and goings” and that it lasts “just a few seconds”.
The report also drew attention to advisers who yell at reporters to leave when Biden finishes his comments, sparking criticism that Biden appears to need protection from investigative questions.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha said that Biden, while signing comprehensive executive orders and was about to execute a major stimulus for the coronavirus, was acting as an “absent president” by not taking responsibility for the media.
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His team “is not confident that this president can handle questions outside of hand-picked reporters,” Concha told America Reports last week.
Although his government received criticism for rarely holding scheduled press briefings, Trump was known for talking to reporters for long periods, such as on his way to Marine One on the White House lawn. At an event earlier this week, reporters tried to ask Biden questions, but the White House team intervened quickly when the president left.
Psaki said that Biden will give a formal interview by the end of March, but he is already the first president in 100 years to not give a press conference at this point in his administration.
Trump took 28 days to give a press conference, while President Obama waited 21 days and President George W. Bush 34 days.
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Biden will deliver a prime-time speech on Thursday to mark the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus outages that rocked the U.S. economy.