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White House Defends Biden After He's Seen Using Major Aid: 'Totally Normal for a President'

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended President Joe Biden Thursday after he was pictured at a news conference a day earlier using a note card that contained an advance question from a reporter.

Biden took questions from several reporters after he held a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Wednesday at the White House.

Images went viral on Twitter showing Biden holding a card that contained a photo of a reporter, the pronunciation of her name, and a question she appeared prepared to ask him.

The reporter on the card was identified as Courtney Subramanian with The Los Angeles Times.

Should presidents be given questions in advance?

The question on the card read, “How are YOU squaring YOUR domestic priorities – like reshoring semiconductors manufacturing – with alliance-based foreign policy?”

At her daily briefing Thursday, Jean-Pierre was asked about the topic by Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich.

Heinrich noted the newspaper denied it ever sent the White House a question in advance.

She was also asked “why” Biden needed a pocket card with questions he might be asked.

Related:
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Jean-Pierre defended Biden holding the card and claimed it is “normal” for presidents to have advance knowledge of what they will be asked during press conferences.

“It is entirely normal for a president to be briefed on reporters who will be asking questions at a press conference, and issues that we expect they might ask about,” Jean-Pierre said, according to Newsweek.

“It is not surprising that yesterday we would anticipate questions that he did receive on the visit with the South Korean president … or about 2024, that was completely expected, or about the debt ceiling which he took questions at the end,” she also said.

Jean-Pierre added, “We do not have specific questions in advance. That’s not something that we do.”

In fact, she concluded, “I would point out that the question that was asked was different than what was on the card that you all saw.”

Biden has made news throughout his time in office for calling on specific reporters who appeared to have been selected beforehand.

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