President Joe Biden has held fewer press conferences than any occupant of the White House since Ronald Reagan.
When he does take questions, he usually appears to call on reporters from a pre-made list.
On Wednesday, Biden held a press conference with South Korean Yoon Suk Yeol. A photographer captured a picture of a card with the list of reporters he was supposed to call on. It revealed a stunning detail: a summary of the reporters’ questions.
The first reporter the card told Biden to call on was Courtney Subramanian of The Los Angeles Times.
A picture of the card revealed text that read “Question #1,” indicating Subramanian was to go first. Beneath information about the outlet she worked for and the pronunciation of her name was a text that read, “How are YOU squaring YOUR domestic priorities — like reshoring semiconductors manufacturing — with alliance-based foreign policy.”
Apparently, the White House believes it needs to emphasize when something is directed to Biden. Last year, a similar picture revealed very clear directions for the president at an event. One portion read, “YOU will deliver opening remarks (5 minutes), then introduce President von der Leyen.” And any direction for him was written with “you” capitalized.
Townhall, a conservative outlet, spliced a video of Subramanian asking her question on Wednesday with the picture of the cheat sheet.
While the card did not have a word-for-word dictation of her question, she asked if pushing to increase domestic semiconductor production is damaging an important ally to “help your domestic politics ahead of the election.”
Joe Biden gets caught RED-HANDED using a CHEAT SHEET of reporters INCLUDING the very questions that they're going to ask…
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 26, 2023
…and the reporters go along with it! pic.twitter.com/bWT5ae1Qow
This is not the first time the White House got caught seeming to solicit reporters’ questions before they were asked.
In 2021, The Daily Beast reported the White House press office was asking reporters to give them information about the questions they planned to ask at the press briefings.
Eric Schultz, a deputy press secretary in the Obama White House, told the outlet, “This is textbook communications work. The briefing becomes meaningless if the press secretary has to repeatedly punt questions, instead of coming equipped to discuss what journalists are reporting on.”
And reporters would certainly prefer to have answers than be told the press secretary will have to circle back. But it creates concerns that officials will only choose to call on reporters who will ask the questions they want to answer.
It can also give them time to develop a more carefully crafted response to potentially tricky questions.
Though, with Biden, that advantage may not exist. He regularly struggles with reading the teleprompter and has repeatedly made unscripted comments that were walked back.
There was also the moment when he appeared to suggest classified documents were safe because they were in a garage where he kept his Corvette. So he has demonstrated moments where he definitely seemed to go off-script.
Appearing to pre-screen questions certainly raises questions about whether the White House is trying to avoid tough questions and limit transparency.
And for the president, who is running for re-election and would be 86 at the end of a second term, getting advance notice of reporters’ questions cannot help reassure voters about his age.
He did have a good moment acting on his feet and sparring with Republicans during his State of the Union address, which delivered a boost of confidence about his age for some. He looked sharp and able to engage with rowdy lawmakers in an unscripted moment.
But seeing him use a cheat sheet with journalists’ questions, and having cards emphasize that the question being asked to him is about “YOU,” cannot help assuage concerns the State of the Union performance was merely a good moment and not the norm for Biden.
