President Joe Biden criticized reporters for not playing by “the rules” with their questions.
During a joint press conference with Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the G-7 summit on Thursday, Bloomberg White House reporter Josh Wingrove veered from the subject of Ukraine to ask about the situation in Gaza, saying, “I have a question for President Zelensky shortly on the announcements. But if you don’t mind I’d like to ask you about your discussions on the situation in Gaza here at the summit.”
“You were asked just a short time ago about it after the skydiving demonstration. Can you give us your assessment of Hamas’s response? And do you believe that they are trying to work towards a deal, or is this response working against the deal? And what is your message to allies, including those here at the G7, about what more, if anything, the U.S. can do to drive towards a peace agreement?” he asked.
Biden responded, seemingly a little frustrated by the change of subject, “I wish you guys would play by the rules a little bit.”
“I’m here to talk about a critical situation in Ukraine. And you ask me another subject. I’ll be happy to answer in detail later,” he continued. “But the bottom line is that we made an agreement. I’ve laid out an approach that has been endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, by the G7, by the Israelis. And then the biggest hang-up so far is Hamas refusing to sign on even though they have submitted something similar. Whether or not it comes to fruition remains to be seen. We’re going to continue to push. I don’t have a final answer for you.”
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After the exchange, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) said in a statement, “The White House Correspondents’ Association believes it is in the public interest to make clear that at a presidential press conference, at home or abroad, there are no preconditions regarding question topics.”
“While the White House does determine the number of reporters the president will recognize, it is up to the professional journalists to decide what to ask,” it continued.
Finally, the statement read, “Any leader may prefer that reporters ask only one question or ask only about a topic that is of most interest to the president or another world leader, but a free press functions independently.”
“WHCA would welcome more opportunities to pose a range of questions to the president in a press conference setting,” it added.
