The White House has scheduled President Joe Biden’s first formal press conference in office, more than 50 days after he was inaugurated.
On Wednesday, former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she finds it “confounding” that the press conference was announced more than a week ahead of time.
“It’s extraordinary that he hasn’t taken questions so far,” McEnany said during an appearance on Fox News’ “Outnumbered.”
Biden has answered questions in interviews and a town hall event. He has also occasionally answered questions from reporters at events. However, he has not held a formal press conference.
She continued, “It’s also confounding to me, as Dana Perino, one of my predecessors, pointed out, that they chose to announce it nine days in advance. Nine days! A lot can happen then, and one of the advantages you have, when you’re in the White House, is to gauge the messaging on any given morning.”
She added, “You want to see what the news cycle is. To promise this nine days out…no one knows what the news cycle will be. No one knows what will happen, and to put this pressure on it and have this buildup where we will all be watching this, it’s really an extraordinary way to go about things. A confounding strategy, and I’m not sure why they chose to do it this way.”
Watch the video below:
On Tuesday, the White House announced that Biden would hold a press conference on March 25. The announcement came as Biden was facing calls to hold one.
On March 7, The Washington Post’s editorial board penned an op-ed calling for Biden to hold a press conference.
“Last month would have been better, and this week would be better than next. Avoiding news conferences must not become a regular habit for Mr. Biden. He is the president, and Americans have every right to expect that he will regularly submit himself to substantial questioning,” it read.
CNN reporter Kevin Liptak noted that Biden is the first president in the last 100 years who has not held a formal press conference within 33 days of taking office.
