Hey, come talk to us, Joe
It’s 41 days and counting since President Biden entered the White House, but he has yet to hold a solo news conference.
Biden has talked to reporters briefly before boarding the presidential aircraft and has taken questions from some reporters when he made statements about the coronavirus and other matters.
And his administration has resumed the daily White House briefings with press secretary Jen Psaki.
But Biden has yet to face reporters alone.
The lack of a press conference is in contrast to his predecessors — Barack Obama held one 20 days after he was inaugurated, and Donald Trump took questions 27 days into his term.
The lack of a solo presser comes despite Biden taking a flurry of executive actions since Jan. 20 and his $1.9 trillion relief plan working its way through Congress.
Asked on Monday when he would hold his initial press conference, Psaki said, “Not yet.”
“But we will definitely have one,” she said. “We will schedule it, and you’ll be the first to know because you’re pivotal participants in that.”
The reluctance to hold a presser recalls last summer and early fall, when then-candidate Biden largely holed up inside his Wilmington, Del., home while the coronavirus and the presidential campaign were churning.
Biden set up a studio in his house and took part in media interviews and talks with supporters and voters via virtual meetings from his basement, tightly controlling which reporters got to ask a question, if at all.
At one point in September after his campaign called a “lid” at 9 a.m., meaning there would be no appearances or questions for the rest of the day, The Post asked in a front-page headline, “Where’s Joe?”