Al Sharpton defends Biden after viral moment leaving MSNBC interview: 'He wasn't lost'
Al Sharpton says President Biden wasn't 'lost' when he wandered off the set of an MSNBC interview last week while host Nicolle Wallace was still talking.
MSNBC host Al Sharpton defended President Biden after his strange on-air moment last week when he wandered off the set of his MSNBC interview while still on live television, saying he "wasn't lost."
Biden joined MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace for a friendly interview on Thursday, but after he shook her hand and the pro-Biden host thanked him for joining, Biden strolled off the set while Wallace was still talking and previewing the next segment. The moment went viral, although some left-wing commentators fumed that Biden was mischaracterized as seeming lost and confused, or portrayed as leaving before the interview had concluded.
The moment caught the attention of "Morning Joe" on Friday, where host Joe Scarborough teased the New York Post for its mockery of the president. Sharpton jumped to his defense as well.
"They act like Biden is confused. No," Scarborough said. "He's just, he's President of the United States. He said thank you, and I'm going to leave now… Some of this stuff is just ridiculous."
MSNBC'S NICOLLE WALLACE GUSHES OVER BIDEN IN RARE LIVE INTERVIEW, AVOIDS GROWING HUNTER SCANDAL
Al Sharpton went to bat for President Biden after his humorous moment on MSNBC last week. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
"Let me say this, Joe, when you refer to the New York Post, when the president left the studio from Nicolle, he came and met with me for about 10 or 15 minutes," Sharpton said. "He probably was looking for where his meetings were going to be when he was leaving.
"He was not stumbling around. The Secret Service was directing him. I think [a producer] had the picture of him and meeting here. So, he wasn't lost. I think the Post was lost."
Scarborough joked that Biden had to leave to talk to someone "really important," meaning Sharpton.
The New York Post editorial board was withering about Biden's interview moment, writing, "Poor Nicolle: She tried so hard to make Biden’s sit-down as easy as possible… The network’s far-left bent is surely why Biden’s handlers let the prez risk an actual one-on-one. Yet he still embarrassed himself."
The attention granted to him strolling away from the table seemed to underscore how little news was generated by Wallace getting a live interview with the president, a rare get of the infamously media-shy Biden.
She didn't ask any questions about the Hunter Biden scandal but did find time to discuss the January 6 Capitol riot and whether John McCain would dislike today's GOP. She also praised Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's dissent in the 6-3 decision that overturned affirmative action, cooed to Biden that Republicans would run on his bipartisan accomplishments and praised his "reverence" for institutions.
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace was giddy last week during her exclusive sit-down with President Biden. (Screenshots/MSNBC)
While liberal and mainstream media critics largely ignored Wallace's softball interview – MSNBC's on-air chyrons afterward called it "breaking news" that Biden said he had faith in the American people – conservatives heaped scorn on Wallace for her obsequious performance.
One of the faces of MSNBC's political coverage, Wallace has never hidden her overwhelming bias toward Democrats, telling all the 2020 Democratic candidates she was rooting for them, claiming "everyone loves" Biden, calling Pete Buttigieg "chicken soup for my soul" and labeling Kamala Harris "beautiful" and a "badass." On Thursday, grinning ear to ear, she told Biden it was "very exciting" he was there and he was welcome to use her program as a platform any time he wished.
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Wallace was previously a Republican aide, working in top communications positions in the George W. Bush White House and the failed 2008 McCain presidential campaign. Now rabidly anti-GOP, she has risen to becoming one of the liberal network's most popular hosts.
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