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New York Post
Biden asks staffer for permission to take questions at Michigan event before reporters are ushered away
By Victor Nava,
2024-03-15
President Biden on Thursday was heard asking for permission from a staffer to “take a couple of questions” from the audience during a campaign stop in Michigan — prompting other aides to quickly move the press out of earshot.
“Can I take a couple questions?” Biden, 81, asked a female staffer as he met with supporters and campaign volunteers on the front porch of a Saginaw city council member’s home.
“Yeah, we’re going to take a few questions,” the staffer responded.
The staffer’s response apparently served as a signal to three other aides, who quickly began to herd up the reporters already positioned on the sidewalk about 20 feet away.
On Monday, after concluding his remarks to an audience at the New Hampshire Democratic headquarters in Manchester, the commander-in-chief asked, “ Am I allowed to take any questions ?”
“Anybody here a sta–” Biden went on, apparently about to say “staff” before trailing off, as the crowd laughed.
In one viral incident, Biden was prevented from answering questions about Afghanistan at the White House Easter Egg Roll in April 2022 when one of his staffers — dressed in an Easter Bunny costume — interjected and led him away.
The Biden campaign’s apparent insistence that he not take questions from the public in front of reporters troubled some on social media.
“This is bad. Really bad. They’ve told his staff not to let him open his mouth,” conservative columnist Buzz Patterson wrote on X, in response to video footage of the Saginaw event.
“Trump would’ve walked out and spoken spontaneously for an hour.”
Fox News contributor Joe Conchan opined, “So if [you’re] wondering why poll numbers are dropping post [State of the Union], here’s Exhibit Z since then…”
“The ‘leader’ of the free world has to ask permission to speak to the press,” another X user noted.
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