Reporters at the White House press conference could be heard expressing shock Friday when President Joe Biden entered the room to take questions for the first time in his administration.
Mr. Biden made a surprise visit to the James S. Brady Press Conference Room, spoke about the latest employment statistics, and took several questions for about 15 minutes. When the president entered the room with presidential press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for the first time since taking office, reporters held their breath.
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When Mr. Biden began his fourth year in office, he held an average of 11 press conferences a year, the lowest number since former President Ronald Reagan, according to data compiled by the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As of February 2024, Biden has participated in fewer interviews with media organizations than his predecessor, giving only 86 interviews since taking office in 2021. According to Go to NBC News. (Related: Forget about basement campaigns — the presidency was a complete basement for Joe Biden)
The president appeared in the briefing room following an early morning report from Axios that there have been no public events scheduled in 43 of the 75 days since the end of the 2024 campaign. According to an Axios analysis, only two public events attended by the president were scheduled before 11 a.m., zero before 10 a.m. and five after 5 p.m. The president also answered all but one phone call or meeting with world leaders between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. after leaving the race, Axios reported.
Our WH reporters have repeatedly said,
The President invited them to come to the briefing room to take questions. Today, he became the first president to do so. We hope he returns, and that future presidents also connect with the American people in this way. It’s an important tool… https://t.co/EPx61OpUOk— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) October 4, 2024
After answering questions mainly about the Middle East crisis in the briefing room, the president joked that he was planning to jump back into the presidential race.
“Do you want to reconsider withdrawing from the race?” a reporter asked the president as he left the briefing room.
As reporters laughed, he replied, “I’m back.”
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“Karin, can we try again?” another reporter asked after the president left.
“No,” she said as reporters laughed again.
Since withdrawing from the presidential race, citing “unity” as the reason, the president has provided little additional explanation as to why he decided to end his candidacy. Biden spoke to both ABC News and The View about his decision to withdraw from the race, but the president told The View hosts that he would beat former President Donald Trump if he was still running. He said he was still thinking about it.
“There was a sense that maybe your hand was forced, and some pointed the finger at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who has had a long relationship with you and we’ve accomplished a lot together. “What is your relationship with Speaker Pelosi now?” Alyssa Farrar Griffin asked Biden.
“Our relationship is good. Look, I’ve never completely believed the claim that somehow there’s an overwhelming resistance to running again. It just wasn’t felt. And public opinion… “The polls said that Mr. Biden was polling differently, but the truth is that my polling has always been within the range of being ahead of Mr. Biden,” the president said.
“What I did…I think it was, but it didn’t make sense. There were some guys who wanted to see me step aside, so they had a chance to move on. I get it, that’s human nature. But that wasn’t why I resigned. I started thinking about it, you know. It’s difficult, but I know you’re only 30 years old,” the president continued, leaning over Farrah Griffin. “But it’s hard to think about it, and it’s hard to even say how old I am.”
