[ad_1]
Press Secretary Jen Psaki tried to explain President Biden’s refusal to answer reporters’ questions during his meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday by claiming the British leader blinded White House aides by calling on two British journalists.
“I think our relationship with the UK and with Prime Minister Johnson is so strong and lasting, we can go beyond that,” Psaki said on Wednesday, “but he [Johnson] appealed to people from his press service without notifying us in advance of this intention.
After Johnson and Biden answered questions from Harry Cole of the Sun newspaper and Beth Rigby of Sky News, White House press officers known as the “wranglers” began shouting and rounding up reporters in front of the oval office, where the meeting took place.
“This is absurd,” heard a reporter complain as he walked outside. “Two British journalists get questions and we get nothing.”
The snafu led members of the White House editorial pool to complain directly to Psaki, though the press secretary brushed off their complaints and rejected CBS News Radio’s Steven Portnoy suggestion that Biden hold a press conference.
CBS White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe, whose question to Biden about the ongoing southern border migration crisis received a half-heard response from the president amid the chaos, Psaki asked on Wednesday his ” understanding “of what had happened.
“The British Prime Minister, in the American Oval Office, called in British journalists, then when American journalists tried to call the American president, we were escorted out,” O complained. ‘Keefe.
Psaki responded by pointing to the prime minister.
Minutes later, Portnoy asked Psaki if Biden felt “eclipsed” by Johnson in front of the transatlantic press.
“I think the president did not spend a moment worrying about it,” replied the press secretary.
Portnoy then asked Psaki, “when can we expect to have the opportunity to ask the president substantive and pointed questions” on issues such as the next deadline to avoid a government shutdown and negotiation failure. on Police Reform on Capitol Hill.
The press secretary responded by saying that Biden had “answered questions 135 times until September; three times last week. And he will continue to seek forums to answer questions from all of you, something he considers vitally important to our democracy.
“But in this month of September, most of the opportunities we had were fleeting,” Portnoy insisted. “In fact, there are times when he only answered one question and walked away, and most of those occasions happened outside of this building. So when can we expect to have the opportunity to ask questions of the President in a formal setting? ”
“Again, Steve, I’m not trying to downplay your request for a formal press conference – which certainly, I’m sure, we’ll have another,” Psaki replied, “but I’ll pass it on to you. this in regards to providing information to the public, raising the importance of press freedom for our democracy, that I don’t know the format, whether it is several shorter questions and answers or a longer formal press conference is at the top of the list of concerns of the American public.
“We intend to raise the issues of public concern at these press conferences,” Portnoy told him.
“As you have done 140 times, you have asked the president questions,” Psaki retorted.
In addition to the issues raised by Portnoy, other issues Biden has not publicly discussed include the recent diplomatic row with France over the strategic alliance between the US, UK and Australia; the Pentagon’s admission last week that a drone strike in the final days of the withdrawal from Afghanistan killed 10 innocent people, including an aid worker and seven children; how many of the thousands of Haitian migrants camped under a Texas bridge for days were deported and how many were released in the United States; and the ongoing Democratic internal struggles over the fate of the president’s $ 3.5 trillion spending proposal.
[ad_2]
Source link