White House reporters were livid with President Joe Biden and Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre after learning he would not have a single press conference during his entire trip to Ireland.
White House National Security Chief Spokesman John Kirby said, “I don’t expect there’ll be a news conference on this trip.”
Of course, when Donald Trump was president, it was a much different story.
Gray TV reporter Jon Decker pointed out to Jean-Pierre that Trump frequently took questions from reporters, unlike Biden.
Yes, Trump didn’t just make American’s lives easier, but also the media.
The transcript of the exchange is below:
JON DECKER: And then the second question has to do with the lack of a press conference during the President’s upcoming trip and the lack of press conference that we see in general from this White House. I represent a news organization that owns 113 television stations. 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? Please answer that question if you could.
JEAN-PIERRE: Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
JON DECKER: Then why the lack of any interaction in a formal setting to have a press conference?
JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, the President takes shouted questions. I —
JON DECKER: In a formal — in a formal setting.
JEAN-PIERRE: I understand. Jon, I understand.
JON DECKER: Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
JEAN-PIERRE: I understand. I have dealt with this question about three times already. I understand it is — it is — it is the job of you all to ask this question to me. Totally get that. And that’s not a problem at all. But certainly, the President many times has — has stan- — has stood in front of all of you, has taken questions on his own, because he wanted to see what was on — on your minds, he wanted to see what the questions you all were going to ask him, and he wanted to answer them directly. That has happened multiple times — many times during this administration. And that will certainly continue to be. When it comes to a formal press conference, I don’t have anything to share with you at this time.
JON DECKER: You recognize — just one last thing.
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, sure.
JON DECKER: Just to button it up. You recognize that as it relates to prior administrations, the President’s predecessor, President Obama, President George W. Bush — I’ve been here long enough to have covered President Bill Clinton — this is not the norm. The norm is we do get an opportunity, ask the questions to the President about domestic and foreign policy issues in a formal setting at some point, and you choose that point. But we haven’t had that opportunity in quite some time.
JEAN-PIERRE: So I’ll say this: It is also unprecedented that a President takes as many shouted questions as this President has. And he has.
JON DECKER: No.
REPORTER: No, no, no, no.
JON DECKER: I covered the last administration, and I’ll tell you: Almost every day, up until —
JEAN-PIERRE: Okay, well, we’ll get —
JON DECKER: — In the November 2020 election, Donald Trump took questions practically every day!
JEAN-PIERRE: — I hear your question. I heard Zeke’s question. I hear you. I hear you on the press conference — on a formal press conference. We get this probably every couple of months when you guys ask us about a formal press conference. I don’t have anything to share with all of you at this time. And — and I’ll just — I’ll just leave it there.
Watch:
If any other president were ducking out of press conferences, it would be a national scandal, but the media barely reports on it.
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