CNN+ journalist Chris Wallace confronted White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about why President Joe Biden has been “sheltered” from reporters.
Psaki appeared on Wallace’s show Wednesday and faced questions about Biden’s press strategy.
“Why has President Biden been so sheltered from the press?” Wallace asked.
Psaki fired back, “In what way? He just did a press conference several weeks ago. And he takes questions from the press nearly every day.”
The CNN journalist noted that during his first year in office, Biden held two solo news conferences in the White House and five press conferences during foreign trips.
He also gave just 28 interviews during that same time, compared to former President Donald Trump, who gave 95 interviews, and former President Barack Obama, who gave 162 interviews.
“By comparison, Jen, that’s sheltered,” Wallace asserted.
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https://twitter.com/KevinTober94/status/1516906665580404736
However, the press secretary pushed back, “Well, the statistic you didn’t include there, Chris is how many times did he take questions from reporters at the White House. I think it was about double…”
“No, he’s had two solo news conferences,” Wallace interjected.
Psaki said, “No, no, beyond that. I mean, nearly every day at the White House, he takes questions from the White House press corps, two questions, three questions, eight questions. So why is that different?”
“I’ll tell you exactly why that’s different,” Wallace began. “Because, when you’re standing there, you can take a question, you answer it, you can slough it off, and you move on.”
He continued, “It in no way compares — and often times he gives a partial answer and walks away — it in no way compares to sitting down with a reporter for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and you can’t move away, you can’t duck it, you gotta sit there and answer the question and the follow-up. It’s not the same thing.”
Psaki responded, “We can agree to disagree on that, Chris.”
“I think how he has felt engaging with the press makes sense to him, or works, is how he used to do it in the Senate, which was to talk to reporters after he did events, take their questions. Often times he takes multiple questions sometimes, there are follow-ups. He’s done that two or three times more than most of his predecessors,” she continued.
Finally, she said, And I think, you know, for most of the White House reporters, that gives them an opportunity to ask questions, often a couple times a week.”
In November, Psaki responded to a question about the few press conferences Biden has held. She argued reporters do not “need a formal embroidered chair” to ask him questions and said they can ask questions in “any format.”