Joe Biden became enraged earlier in the week when, during a press conference announcing a new 10-year security agreement with Ukraine, a reporter asked him about the ongoing war in Gaza.
A reporter questioned Biden for an assessment of Hamas’s response to the proposal and to describe his message to allies at the Group of Seven (G7) summit about the U.S.’s work toward a peace agreement in the Middle East, wrote The Hill.
“I wish you guys would play by the rules a little bit. I’m here to talk about a critical situation in Ukraine. You’re asking another subject,” Biden snapped back.
Fox News noticed that even outlets that cover the president positively whenever they can couldn’t help but notice that the president is wearing down overseas and getting angry if he has to go off script and think on his feet.
CNN News Central host Boris Sanchez noted that Biden “apparently didn‘t enjoy being asked” about the conflict in Gaza.
Co-host Brianna Keilar agreed, “He‘s been snippy recently about being asked multiple questions in these press conferences.”
After clarifying she and her co-host have served as White House correspondents, she argued the types of questions asked of Biden “are very limited. They‘re called ‘2-and-2’s’ and the reporters tend to – there‘s a tradition of asking more than the questions, that‘s just pretty usual because there are not that many questions to ask.”
She went on to argue that Biden “falls far below his predecessors when it comes to interviews and when it comes to press conferences, we just need to be clear about that.”
The WHCA subsequently put out a statement defending the independence of the free press to ask questions, according to Fox Digital.
“The White House Correspondents’ Association believes it is in the public interest to make clear that at a presidential press conference, at home or abroad, there are no preconditions regarding question topics,” the statement read. “While the White House does determine the number of reporters the president will recognize, it is up to professional journalists to decide what to ask.”
It continued, “Any leader may prefer that reporters ask only one question or ask only about a topic that is of most interest to the president or another world leader, but a free press functions independently. WHCA would welcome more opportunities to pose a range of questions to the president in a press conference setting.”
The White House did not respond to questions about the outburst.
