Watch: Biden Accidentally Admits He Can't Be Trusted to Handle His Own Press Conferences
President Joe Biden’s latest gaffe came at the expense of the media following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland.
Upon taking the stage for a news conference, Biden mentioned right at the start that he had a pre-approved list of reporters he would be taking questions from, presumably put together by his aides.
“I’ll take your questions, and as usual folks, they gave me a list of the people I’m going to call on,” Biden said.
JOE BIDEN: “As usual, folks, they gave me a list of the people I’m going to call on” pic.twitter.com/hxzTwKNNNb
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 16, 2021
For starters, there is no question that this list was made up of people that would flatter his agenda and put a positive spin on the meeting between the two world leaders.
Toward the end of the conference, the only serious question came from Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy, who asked the president if he will talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the coronavirus’ origins in Wuhan, China.
Biden said he wants to “rally the world” in order to create a system that would detect that next pandemic early on, but expressed little interest in holding the Chinese government accountable for the ongoing pandemic.
The constant deflecting and fear of going off-message are clear reasons why Biden’s conferences are run so strictly, and it came to a breaking point just moments later.
As Biden was exiting the event, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked him about Putin’s “behavior” toward the United States and the rest of the world.
“Why are you so confident he’ll change his behavior, Mr. President?” she asked.
“I’m not confident — What the hell? What do you do all the time?” the president fired back. “When did I say I was confident?”
“I said what will change their behavior is if the rest of the world reacts to them and it diminishes their standing in the world.”
“If you don’t understand that, you’re in the wrong business,” he later added.
While finishing up his post-Vladimir Putin summit press conference, President Joe Biden spars with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins. “I’m not confident,” the president responded. “When did I say I was confident?” https://t.co/Q7OMADO04L pic.twitter.com/WdOkArkCs1
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) June 16, 2021
Except prior to boarding Air Force One later, Biden said he “owed” Collins an “apology.”
Of course, viewers can decide for themselves whether or not that was of his own volition.
Lol Kaitlan Collins is such a joke of a reporter. pic.twitter.com/sHdtTVtiE1
— Jon Miller (@MillerStream) June 16, 2021
“That is completely unnecessary from the president,” Collins said on air. “He did not have to apologize, though I do appreciate that he did there in front of the other reporters as he was about to get on Air Force One to go back to Washington.”
Any news conference where the president feels compelled to apologize afterward is clearly not a good day for the White House.
Between his spat with Kaitlan Collins and admitting that his staff tries to have a chokehold on the direction of the media coverage, Wednesday was not a victory for the president in terms of public relations.
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