President Biden was in a talkative mood Wednesday, at one point telling media members, “I’m not supposed to be answering all these questions.”
The president delivered remarks from the White House about the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive and took a pair of questions — one about the rising gas prices caused by the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack and the other about the ongoing violence in the Middle East.
After answering the second question, Biden turned to leave, but was brought up short by an unidentified media member who asked: “What’s your take on the end of your meeting, sir? Were you optimistic coming out of it today?”
“Which one — which one of the 12 I’ve had?” the president answered.
After the press clarified that they were asking about a meeting between Biden, Vice President Harris and congressional leaders to discuss infrastructure legislation, the president returned to the lectern.
“You guys are bad. I’m not supposed to be answering all these questions,” the president said. “I’m supposed to leave, but I can’t resist your questions.”
The exchange took place days after White House press secretary Jen Psaki admitted that she doesn’t like Biden to have too much face time with the White House press corps.
“He takes questions nearly every day he’s out from the press,” Psaki told CNN analyst David Axelrod on “The Axe Files” podcast May 6. “That is not something we recommend. In fact, a lot of times, we say, ‘Don’t take questions.’ But he’s going to do what he wants to do because he’s the president of the United States.”
Biden has held just one formal news conference since his inauguration in January.