CNN’s Lee: “At this point, with two months left in the administration, does the White House see a real value in President Biden directly engaging with members of the press?”
KJP: “Oh, absolutely, yes. Um — look, I think we have worked really hard and I hope you all have seen this to make sure that we brought back the norms — um — that was taken away from our — our predecessor on how we engage with the press. The President respects — uh — the freedom of the press — uh, and he actually enjoys engaging and going back and forth with all of you, and that is something — and he’s done that extensively, and that is certainly something that he’s going to continue to do.”
CNN’s Lee: “If all of that is true, why on a six-day foreign trip where the President obviously had a robust American press corps traveling with him, did he not have a single engagement whether it is a press conference or maybe just speaking on the tarmac or really anywhere where he took questions from the press.”
KJP: “I mean, as you all just stated and wrote about, the G-20 and APEC was his last opportunity to deal with some of these world leaders that he has built a close relationship with — has — some of some — Some of them he’s known certainly more than his — uh — almost four years — uh — in — in this office — uh — and so, he truly wanted to spend time engaging and — and listening, having that one on one engagement that the President believes in and trusts in, and so he wanted to spend time doing that — uh — and so that’s what you saw the President do, and I get it. I get that you all want to hear from the president. I get that. I understand that. Uh — and I’m not saying that you won’t. You will. He will certainly continue to engage with all of you, and it is when I say it’s something that he actually enjoys doing, it is. He enjoys having the back and forth with all of you, and that’s going to continue.”
CNN’s Lee: “Just to be clear, you mean the explanation is that he — on this trip was extra busy meeting with world leaders because this is one of his, you know, last foreign trips?”
KJP: “Well, what I — what I’m saying is, as you know, this was one of his last opportunities to speak to many of these leaders. There were 20 leaders at the G-20, more than 21, or about 21 leaders at APAC — uh — and so he wanted to spend that time certainly doing what he normally does at these conferences, obviously, but — uh — but also, you know — um — speaking directly to them, uh, as one of his final times as President. And again, putting that aside, I think your question was, do we believe that he should engage some version of that — if it’s — I apologize if I’m not quoting you directly. Yeah, we think it’s important for him to engage with the press. He thinks it’s important to engage with the press, and that’s going to continue. It is. You will hear from the president and have an opportunity to do those — uh — back and forth that you normally have done with him.”
Bloomberg’s Jenny Leonard: “— I was on the South America trip and I just want to know —”
KJP: “Yeah.”
Leonard: “— if your explanation was that he was engaging with leaders? There was quite a bit of downtime and, of course, opportunities on the tarmac, which he has used before the election, so I don’t know that that really explains why he didn’t —”
KJP: “I — I appreciate that you don’t appreciate my explanation — um — but what I’m saying to you is that the President is looking forward to engaging with you all — uh — in less than 60 days. He’s done it extensively. It’s not going to stop — uh — and he will do that. He will continue to engage with all of you and take your questions. He’s done, I believe, more than 600 back and forth with you all this year alone, more than 50 interviews. That’s not going to stop. It’s not. He’s going to engage and I’ll just — I’ll just leave it there.”
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Q: why 6-day trip Biden not single engagement? KJP: I appreciate you don’t appreciate my explanation