White House ‘lied’ say press excluded from Biden wedding
THE Biden administration faced a backlash from the White House press corps after journalists claimed to have been lied to about media coverage of Naomi Biden’s wedding.
Correspondents from US newspapers expressed dismay that they were barred from covering Joe Biden’s granddaughter’s nuptials on the South Lawn on Saturday, while Vogue magazine was granted a full interview.
The wedding between Ms Biden and Peter Neal was a first for a granddaughter of a president, and the 19th to take place on the grounds, including that of Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia in 1971.
Karine Jean-pierre, the White House press secretary, told the press last week that the wedding between the couple was to be a private affair.
The White House Correspondents’ Association objected, saying: “White House weddings have been covered by the press throughout history and the first family’s wish for privacy must be balanced against the public’s interest in an event occurring at the People’s House with the president as a participant.”
The association was denied a select group of journalists to cover the event.
Katie Rogers, of The New York Times, complained about how she was “waved off ”. Ashley Parker at The Washington Post compared the Trump and Biden administrations and said “both lie, albeit in v different ways. Trump team was shameless, whereas Biden team is too cute by half ”.
“This was not a national security meeting, this was not an economic summit, this was a young couple’s wedding with friends and family. did a portrait shoot before the wedding,” Ms Jean-pierre told reporters yesterday.