Biden Says He’s Ready to Take Questions — WH Immediately Cuts His Feed

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The White House unceremoniously cut off a video stream of Joe Biden after the president announced he was ready to take questions from lawmakers on a conference call.

The moment: Biden had just finished addressing the House Democratic Caucus on the topic of COVID relief and the country’s vaccination campaign.

  • “I’d be happy to take questions if that’s what I’m supposed to do, Nance,” Biden told Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who also appeared at the event. “Whatever you want me to do.”
  • After a brief pause, the president’s camera faded into the White House logo, prompting ridicule on Twitter from critics who speculated that Biden’s handlers were intentionally preventing him from going off-script.

Context: Biden has yet to hold a press conference in the seven weeks since inauguration, a modern record that parallels last year’s press-averse “bunker campaign” for the presidency.

  • Some of the president’s detractors have gone as far as to dub him “Hidin’ Biden.”
  • Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking on Fox News, made reference to long-standing questions about Biden’s mental acuity, saying Biden’s apparent inability to field questions displays “weakness” to America’s foreign rivals.
  • “That is a risk for soldiers, sailors, airmen all across the world,” he warned. “Weakness begets war.”
By We'll Do It Live