White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield insists that President Joe Biden “never shies away” from questions, despite not holding a press conference in days.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Bedingfield was asked if the president planned to take questions from reporters after he delivers remarks on Afghanistan.
Co-host Willie Geist noted, “He’s given a couple speeches, he did the interview with ABC News, but the White House press corps and the American people have a lot of direct questions for him.”
“The president never shies away from taking questions. I’ll let him make a decision if he’s going to take questions this afternoon,” Bedingfield began.
She added, “But you saw he just did a full sit-down interview on this just yesterday. So he is always willing to take questions.”
Watch the video below:
WH Comms Director Kate Bedingfield: "The president never shies away from taking questions." pic.twitter.com/KNkSqyCgtU
— America Rising (@AmericaRising) August 20, 2021
Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks on Afghanistan at 1 p.m. EST on Friday.
However, the president has not answered questions from the press corps amid the collapse of the Afghan government.
On Monday, Biden delivered remarks at the White House defending the U.S. withdrawal, but he did not take questions from reporters afterward. Instead, he went back to Camp David, the presidential retreat.
And on Wednesday, he spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic and did not take questions at the end of his remarks.
Biden walked out of the East Room just now. He never mentioned Afghanistan. He didn't take a single question.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) August 18, 2021
However, he did sit down for an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopolous.
During the interview with Stephanopolous, Biden defended the execution of the withdrawal as he said, “I don’t think it could have been handled in a way that–we’re going to go back in hindsight and look, but the idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing I don’t know how that happens.”
He also denied that advisers recommended the U.S. keep roughly 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, Biden waited longer than any in president in the past 100 years to hold their first press conference after taking office.