Biden gets through first news conference -- with help from 'cheat sheets'

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Biden gets through first news conference -- with help from 'cheat sheets'
President Biden referenced "cheat sheets" detailing key policy points and the identities of attending journalists when he conducted the first formal news conference of his presidency on Thursday.

The event occurred on the 65th day of Biden's presidency.

Photos showed Biden holding a card labeled "infrastructure," with key statistics and talking points. One bullet point noted that "China spends 3 times more on infrastructure than U.S."

In another photo, Biden was seen consulting a sheet that appeared to show the photos and news outlets of journalists who attended the news conference. Some of the photos had a circled number next to the reporters' faces.

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Just 25 reporters were permitted to attend. Biden took a limited number of questions from a list of pre-selected reporters before leaving the podium. He answered questions related to the ongoing crisis at the southern border, his view on calls to end the filibuster, and other topics. Among other remarks, the president said he intends to run for reelection in 2024.

Critics of the Biden administration have called on officials to make Biden available to the press on a regular basis. White House press secretary Jen Psaki holds daily briefings.

The use of note cards is not unprecedented at presidential news conferences. In November 2019, former President Trump held a notebook with handwritten prompts during a news conference on testimony delivered at his first impeachment hearing. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON OUR TOP STORY.

In other developments:
- The six most interesting moments from Joe Biden’s first presidential news conference.
- Reporters fail to ask Biden about COVID, reopening schools, Boulder shooting, Russia at first news conference
- Fox News' Peter Doocy had 'binder full of questions' for Biden if called on at news conference.
- Tucker Carlson: Biden teases and titillates reporters in break from dividing the nation

Trump blasts Biden claim that former president let migrant kids ‘starve’
Former President Trump joined "The Ingraham Angle" in an exclusive interview Thursday night to respond to the first news conference of President Biden's term, held earlier in the day.

Many of Trump's remarks had to do with Biden's policies regarding the U.S.-Mexico border.

Host Laura Ingraham played for Trump a video clip of Biden appearing to accuse Trump of leaving migrant children to "starve to death" on the Mexican side of the border.

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"When an unaccompanied child ends up at the border, we [aren't] going to let them starve to death and stay on the other side -- No previous administration did that either, except Trump. I'm not going to do it," Biden told reporters.

The remarks drew a sharp reaction from Trump.

"First of all, it's just the opposite," Trump said. "By the time we finished what we were doing [on the border], very few people were coming up because they knew they weren't going to get through. We stopped 'catch and release' -- which was a disaster.

"The very biggest thing was, we had the Remain In Mexico policy, and that means that we wouldn't allow people to wait in our country until they were totally checked out, which most of them didn't get checked out, and they would go back to their own country." CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
- Biden says media will be allowed into border facilities but cannot say when
-  Border Patrol chief hopes someone will 'fact check' Biden's border crisis claims
- Ari Fleischer rips Biden over border access comments: Like a 'co-conspirator hiding evidence' from police
- New York Post editorial board blasts reporters for sucking up to Biden during news conference
- Concha: Biden news conference was 'disgrace' for White House press corps and president
- Washington Post's Rubin, PBS' Yamiche Alcindor clash over immigration question at Biden press conference

Cuomo gave preferential COVID-19 testing access to New York-based pharmaceutical exec: report
New York-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals President Dr. George Yancopoulos was among those given preferential access to COVID-19 testing early in the pandemic by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to a report.

The company reportedly requested tests from the state on behalf of Yancopoulos and his family after a member of the household became ill. The family was tested at home last March, according to The New York Times, at a time when testing supplies were in critically short supply.

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Spokespeople for Regeneron and the governor’s office did not return Fox News’ request for comment. The company is the maker of monoclonal antibody drug treatment it says can reduce COVID-19 hospitalization or death by 70 percent in non-hospitalized patients.

As noted by the publication, Regeneron announced April 1, 2020, that it would donate 500,000 COVID-19 test kits to the state amid the nationwide shortage.

The impeachment probe being carried out by the New York state Legislature will look into whether relatives of Gov. Cuomo received preferential access to testing supplies, Fox News previously reported. It will also examine claims of sexual harassment and the treatment of nursing home patients during the pandemic. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
- JD Vance: Cuomo giving family COVID testing priority is 'height of a leader not acting like a leader'
- Kennedy drags Gov. Cuomo for disastrous COVID nursing home directive one year later
- CNN goes 24 hours without mentioning latest Cuomo bombshell implicating network's star anchor
- Janice Dean slams CNN's defense of Chris Cuomo's preferential treatment as 'tone-deaf'
- Cuomo impeachment probe looking into whether family got preferential access to COVID-19 tests

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#The Flashback: CLICK HERE to find out what happened on "This Day in History."

SOME PARTING WORDS

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Sean Hannity on Thursday discussed President Biden's news conference earlier in the day in which he used notes to answer questions from the White House press corps.

"Our enemies are watching. This is embarrassing," the host said on "Hannity." "Have you ever seen an American president rely on a book of cheat sheets before? To answer a simple question at a press conference? It is pathetic. It’s embarrassing. And let's be clear here, the compliant media mob wasn't exactly throwing Joe any tough curveballs. They were incredibly polite and kind."

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