President Biden’s aides rushed the traveling press corps as they called questions to a commander-in-chief who did not respond to Washington on Tuesday, his 48th day in office without holding a solo press conference.
The incident came towards the end of a visit by Biden to WS Jenks & Son, a hardware store in the country’s capital that benefited from its temporary extension for smaller companies in the Wage Protection Program.
After watching Biden interact quietly with store owners and employees for about ten minutes, reporters began calling him a series of fruitless questions.
Immediately afterwards, the 46th president’s managers began to shout assertively, “Come on, press, you have to leave,” as the whole gag of journalists was quickly removed from the scene.
Biden, who was about 15 to 20 feet away from the press pool, did not stop or respond to a single myriad of screams, including one about the growing immigration crisis on the southern border.
Tuesday not only commemorates the 48th day of Biden’s presidency, but also marks the longest a commander-in-chief has spent in recent history without holding a solo press conference.
Biden has spent more time than his 15 most recent predecessors (100 years ago), without receiving questions from the press at the most official forum.
The previous 15 presidents held a solo press conference within 33 days of taking office, according to a CNN analysis of data from the U.S. Presidency Project.
President Donald Trump held his first solo press conference 27 days after taking office, while President Barack Obama held a twenty-day one at work.
Meanwhile, Biden has stopped having one, and it doesn’t look like that will change in the immediate future.
When pressured on the matter at a meeting on Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki argued that the president was too busy managing the “historic crises” related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She is OK. I think the count is almost 40 times, “he said.” And I would say his focus, again, is to achieve recovery and relief for the American people and he hopes to continue to work with all of you and other members. of the media that are not there today, and we hope to communicate this as soon as the press conference is set. “
The commander-in-chief spoke briefly with reporters before boarding the presidential plane and received some questions from the press after making public statements about the coronavirus and other issues.
However, he has not faced solo journalists since he became the leader of the free world.
A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on the president’s refusal to hold a briefing.