Biden still hasn’t held a press conference after 43 days in office
'I think his people keep him away from the media because they're afraid he might trail off or have difficulty answering basic questions,' Tim Young says
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President Biden has been in office for 43 days without holding an official press conference and critics have taken notice.
President Trump took 28 days to take questions from the press, while President Obama did it after only 21 days in office and President George W. Bush took 34 days.
Biden has signed a plethora of executive orders and ordered airstrikes in Syria but reporters haven’t been given the chance to ask him questions in a formal setting. He has spoken briefly to reporters while walking on the White House grounds, given interviews to friendly outlets and made several speeches.
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"The reluctance to hold a presser recalls the time last summer and early fall when then-candidate Biden largely holed up in his Wilmington, Del., home while the coronavirus and the presidential campaign were churning," New York Post reporter Mark Moore recently wrote.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki recently said, "Not yet," when asked when Biden would hold his first press conference.
Conservative strategist Chris Barron feels the president has nothing to be afraid because the press would take it easy on him in the formal setting.
"It’s surprising Biden hasn’t held a press conference. What on earth would lead the Biden team to think that the mainstream media would be even remotely interested in asking tough questions? It’s truly pathetic that the Biden team doesn’t even trust the president to hit softballs," Barron told Fox News.
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CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted that "Biden’s 15 most recent predecessors all held a formal solo press conference within 33 days of taking office."
Political satirist Tim Young joked that Biden must be guilty of something because the mainstream media set a precedent during Trump’s time in office.
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"We were told repeatedly by the left when President Trump didn't hold press conferences that he was derelict of duty and avoiding them because he was clearly guilty of something - so playing by the left and the corporate media's own established rules, I guess Biden has committed multiple crimes and should no longer be president," Young told Fox News.
Young doesn’t believe Biden is waiting for anything specific but is simply being shielded from the press for his own good.
"I think his people keep him away from the media because they're afraid he might trail off or have difficulty answering basic questions," Young said.
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Conservative advocate and podcast host Kyle Kashuv isn’t surprised that Biden has managed to avoid a formal press conference.
"I think his team understands that the media will carry water for him no matter what. Journalists have become tremendous Democrat cheerleaders and operatives," Kashuv told Fox News.
The White House has not yet scheduled a date for Biden to deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress, either.
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Past presidents have traditionally given a speech to Congress during their first year in office, often in February which didn’t happen for Biden. An address to a joint session of Congress is like a State of the Union, though it technically is not called that until the president’s second year in office.
Former President George H.W. Bush delivered one of the earliest addresses to a joint session, taking place on Feb. 9, 1989. Trump delivered one of the latest on Feb. 28, 2017.
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Obama delivered his address on Feb. 24, 2009; George W. Bush delivered his on Feb. 27, 2001; and former President Bill Clinton delivered his on Feb. 17.
Whenever Biden’s address occurs, it would be the latest Joint Session address in decades.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.