The White House reportedly cut the feed of President Joe Biden during a briefing on Monday as the president started asking questions.
As reported by Fox News, “During Monday’s visit to Boise, Idaho, Biden received a briefing about the ongoing wildfires that have plagued several states out west. While Biden spoke for much of the briefing, at one point he said he wanted to hear more from George Geissler of the National Association of State Foresters.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Biden asked.
“Of course,” Geissler replied.
“One of the things that I’ve been working on with some others is —” Biden said before the feed was cut and replaced with a full-screen graphic that said, “Thank You For Joining.”
BIDEN: “Can I ask you a question?”
*White House feed cuts out” pic.twitter.com/YQ9I9u3r98
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 13, 2021
According to The Washington Post, Biden’s official schedule for the day noted that the event was “pool spray at the top,” meaning that reporters were only going to attend the top of the event, then leave for the portion that was supposed to be closed to the press.
This isn’t the first situation where the White House has cut Biden’s feed, as Fox News notes. The outlet noted, “Last month, the president’s audio feed was cut as he was about to respond to a reporter’s question on his administration’s military withdrawal deadline from Afghanistan.”
The White House also cut the feed of a virtual event in March after Biden said, “I’m happy to take questions if that’s what I’m supposed to do …”
It is not necessarily uncommon for a president to receive a list of people they are supposed to call on at a press briefing. Still, Biden has been criticized for favoring reporters that might be friendlier than others, and who his staff has possibly screened ahead of time.
Biden has also faced criticism for sometimes failing to take questions from reporters at all. This was specifically apparent and egregious when members of the press attempted to grill him during the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden infamously turned his back on reporters several times, creating an image of a president who was unwilling to answer for the Americans and allies left behind in the country after the Taliban took control.
The president’s popularity and approval rating among Americans has plummeted since the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, with the perception that he does not take questions or care to answer for the actions of his administration potentially playing a part in the drop.
As The Daily Wire reported earlier this month, “[a]ccording to a recent Zogby Poll survey, 20% of likely voters now regret voting for President Biden in the 2020 presidential election.”
The Zogby Poll, which was conducted before Biden announced new vaccine mandates last week, noted, some “very important groups” which “normally lean left and Democrat” were “even more regretful about voting for the president in 2020.”
“Pollster Jonathan Zobby explained that this level of regret among voters will be a point of concern for Biden in 2024, given that both the 2016 and 2020 elections were effectively decided by ‘tens of thousands of votes’ in just a ‘handful of battleground states,’” The Daily Wire added.
“Even though Joe Biden has suffered humiliating defeats in recent weeks, he still has time to recover,” said Zogby. “One still gets the sense his ship is sinking fast, and he might not have any lifeboats aboard to save him.”
“Come next poll, many more voters might be expressing regret if Biden and company do not score a victory soon,” Zogby added.
This article has been updated to include additional information.
Related: One-Fifth Of Democrats Regret Voting For Biden: Poll