President Joe Biden and the White House press corps are facing criticism after his first press conference in office did not include qu...
President Joe Biden and the White House press corps are facing criticism after his first press conference in office did not include questions about key topics such as the pandemic, reopening schools, potential tax increases, or Russia.
At the one-hour press conference on Thursday, Biden called on just 10 reporters to ask questions, and many of them focused on the migrant crisis at the southern border, leaving little time for other subjects.
Though Biden addressed relations with China at length, he faced no questions about the ongoing investigation of the origins of COVID-19 -- or any other question about his pandemic response and vaccine rollout.
There were no questions about potential tax hikes to fund Biden's reported $3 trillion green infrastructure plan, and relations with Russia were left unmentioned despite recent tensions after Biden labeled Vladimir Putin a 'killer'.
Biden's first press conference as president did not include questions about key topics such as the pandemic, reopening schools, potential tax increases, or Russia
At the one-hour press conference on Thursday, Biden called on just 10 reporters to ask questions, and many of them focused on the migrant crisis
Biden was also not asked to weigh in on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, his fellow Democrat who faces twin scandals over his handling of nursing homes in the pandemic, and allegations of sexual harassment and bullying. This week, reports emerged he had also prioritized COVID-19 testing for family, including his CNN anchor brother Chris, and friends at the height of the pandemic when ordinary New Yorkers struggled to get access.
Parents desperate to get their children back in the classroom also did not get the chance to hear Biden's plan to reopen schools in the coronavirus pandemic.
Also unmentioned at the presser was a recent report from Politico detailing a 2018 incident in which the Secret Service intervened after president's daughter-in-law Hallie discarded a gun belonging to Hunter Biden in a trash can.
Fox News reporter Peter Doocy called out Biden for not taking any questions from him at the press conference, saying he had 'a binder full of questions' to put to the president.
'We had a lot and most of the stuff we did not get to,' Doocy remarked on-air after the press conference.
'Nobody asked him about this big plan that he has got, this big idea to completely transform the economy to make it all green,' Doocy continued.
'That is something we were hoping to get on the board with and there were not a lot of questions about Covid, particularly the investigation into the origins of it,' he added.
Fox News reporter Peter Doocy called out Biden for not taking any questions from him at the press conference, saying he had 'a binder full of questions' to put to the president
Several reporters at the press conference focused on issues at the southern border, where a surge of illegal crossings is on track to break a 20-year record.
Biden said he would be 'flattered' if migrants were coming to the United States because of him and ridiculed the idea the surge in migrants at the border is because he's a 'nice guy.'
'Look, I guess I should be flattered that people are coming because I am the nice guy, that that is why they are coming, that I am a decent man or however it was phrased. That that is why they are coming, because Biden is a decent guy. But the truth is nothing has changed,' he said.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, slammed Biden's remarks, saying it was ridiculous to assert that his policies were not to blame for the surge in illegal migration.
'With all due respect, this press conference is hard to watch. The misinformation being given by President Biden on immigration is stunning,' Graham wrote in a tweet.
'It’s clear he does not have the situational awareness he needs to understand what is going on at the border or how to fix it,' he continued.
'The Trump policies created dramatic decreases in illegal immigration. The changes made by President Biden have created a virtual human tsunami,' added Graham.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, slammed Biden's remarks, saying it was ridiculous to assert that his policies were not to blame for the surge in illegal migration
In addition to the border crisis, multiple reporters focused their questions on the potential elimination of the Senate filibuster, a procedural rule that requires 60 votes to move on many issues.
Biden took questions for nearly an hour in his first presidential press conference, answering multiple queries from the Associated Press, PBS, The Washington Post, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, CBS News, CNN, Bloomberg, Univision.
He was grilled on a number of topics, including the situation at the border, the Senate filibuster, working with Republicans, his 2024 re-election plans and Afghanistan - but received no questions on the coronavirus pandemic.
He grew testy at a few times but maintained his folksy attitude throughout much of the back-and-forth. His voice sounded hoarse as he answered questions from reporters he called on from a list he had on the podium. Sometimes he paused and sounded tentative as he spoke. Other times he flipped through a binder he had with him on the podium.
'Folks, I'm going,' he said as he ended the event.
The border policy and images of children crossing over from Mexico dominated the event. In his remarks, Biden claimed that President Trump left children to starve on the border although it's unclear what he was referring to.
'Look, the idea that I'm going to say, which I would never do, if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border we are just 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. I'm not going to do it,' he said.
Several reporters at the press conference focused on issues at the southern border, where a surge of illegal crossings is on track to break a 20-year record
He expressed no regret for signing executive orders that rolled back Trump policies and for stopping construction on Trump's border wall.
'First of all, all of the policies that were underway did not help at all, did not slow up the amount of immigration, as many people coming. Rolling back the policies of separating children from their mothers? I make no apology for that. Rolling back the policies of remain in Mexico sitting on the edge of the Rio Grande, the muddy circumstances, not enough to eat. I make no apologies for that. I make no apologies for ending programs that did not exist before Trump became president that have an incredibly negative impact on the law, international law, as well as on human dignity. And so I make no apologies for that,' he said.
He was referring to Trump's decision to separate migrant children from their families, a policy that came under heavy criticism and was eventually repealed by Trump.
More than 16,500 unaccompanied migrant children were in federal custody as of early Wednesday, according to CBS News. More than 11,500 of those children were being housed in shelters and emergency housing sites, while another 5,000 were stranded in overcrowded Border Patrol facilities.
He also committed to letting the press into the shelters on the border holding migrant children, including the shelters where there is overcrowding and not enough bed.
And he said he hasn't visited the border yet because of the large amount of people that travel with him as president. He has sent administration officials to the border to observe the situation and report back.
'One of the reasons I haven't gone down, my chief folks have gone down, is I don't want to become the issue. I don't want to be bringing all the Secret Service and everybody with me to get in the way. So this is being set up and you will have full access to everything once we get this thing moving,' he said.
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