White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pressed on whether President Joe Biden would hold a press conference after he met with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.
During a press briefing on Thursday, CBS News’ Steven Portnoy said, “The president seemed to say this morning, I think I heard him say, he would take questions after he meets with the leaders today.”
He asked, “Do you know more of what we can expect in that regard?”
“Well, he just took questions a little bit ago. So we’ll see what the end of today looks like, and if the president wants to take questions, that’s certainly his right to take questions,” Psaki said.
Portnoy asked, “Should we expect a press conference tonight or tomorrow?”
“I would not expect, no. But you can ask questions in any format, right? I don’t think you need a formal embroidered chair for it,” the press secretary responded.
Portnoy said, “We would like a press conference.”
Psaki simply replied, “Ok.”
Watch the video below:
REPORTER: "Should we expect a press conference tonight or tomorrow?"
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 18, 2021
PSAKI: "I would not expect, no. But you can ask questions in any format, right? I don't think you need a formal embroidered chair for it…"
REPORTER: "We would like a press conference."
PSAKI: "OK." pic.twitter.com/uNgV0V23id
His question comes after CBS News reported that there would not be a press conference after Biden meets with the leaders of Canada and Mexico — which the network notes is the first meeting of the three leaders since 2016.
Psaki argued on Thursday that the lack of a press conference is not “scandalous” and resulted from a “change of schedule.”
Thursday’s exchange was just the latest example of reporters expressing frustration with a lack of a formal setting to ask Biden questions.
Portnoy, who is the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said that the press pool filed a formal complaint with Psaki after that incident.
However, Portnoy said in a statement about that incident, “Psaki was unaware that the incident had occurred, and suggested that she was not in position to offer an immediate solution… Psaki suggested the president takes questions several times a week.”
