White House Clearing Press After Biden's COVID Event Sets Netizens on Fire

While President Joe Biden has repeatedly been criticised for avoiding interacting with journalists, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in May that allowing POTUS to take reporters' questions is "not something we recommend".

Netizens have reacted angrily to the White House clearing press from President Joe Biden's news conference on COVID in a fresh example of the president's uneasy relationship with reporters.

It's good to clear the press first--then the President won't be stuck for an answer.

— Larry Clark (@LC7697) December 27, 2021

"Talking with the press is a duty that presidents must honor. His handlers make these decisions? What other decisions do they make?", one user wrote on their Twitter page, while another argued that "if Trump's administration did that, everyone would be up in arms".

One more netizen sarcastically tweeted: "It's good to clear the press first - then the president won't be stuck for an answer". Others cheekily referred to Biden's government as "most transparent administration ever".

#NoPlanJoe pic.twitter.com/9urercI7VO

— The Right To Bear Memes (@grandoldmemes) December 27, 2021

Most transparent White House in history

— alx (@alx27416043) December 27, 2021

pic.twitter.com/XD3h9sSQqT

— John Nero (@realjohnnynero) December 27, 2021

Most open White House ever huh?

— Howard Woolley (@chubwoolley) December 28, 2021

Most transparent administration ever…

— Brandon Lawson (@Brandon39401049) December 27, 2021

Talking with the press is a duty that presidents must honor.

His handlers make these decisions? What other decisions do they make?

— LetoThe2nd (@szv6y0) December 28, 2021

He doesn't want media to ask any questions because he doesn't want the Press to ask questions he has the answers to or does not, and if he does, is instructed not to answer. Scary stuff.

— My Assistant Deb (@MyAssistantDeb) December 28, 2021

If Trump’s administration did that, everyone would be up in arms.

— Sue Crabtree (@crabtree_sue) December 28, 2021

Transparency....

— Jim Rittenhouse (@jimmyritt33) December 27, 2021

The incident took place on Monday, when Biden was wrapping up his communication with US governors about dealing with the country's efforts to tackle a surge in confirmed cases of the new coronavirus variant Omicron.

"I want to thank the governors for their partnership and I mean that sincerely", Biden said, adding: "With that I will turn it back over to Jeff and I understand you guys might have some questions. Jeff?", a reference to White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients.

The presidential aide responded by saying: "Good. I think we are going to clear the press first".

POTUS has repeatedly been slammed for avoiding interaction with journalists, incidents that included one in late November, when he delivered remarks on the state of the US economy.

Biden wrapped up the speech in approximately 10 minutes by saying: "Thank you for your time and effort, and I'll have plenty of time to talk to you later". He then started to walk away, with reporters shouting: "When will you answer our questions, sir?"

In October, the US president turned his back on reporters and walked away as they shouted questions following his remarks on a bleak September jobs report. Earlier, he rejected a reporter's question about Afghanistan during his comments on Hurricane Ida.