The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) responded to President Joe Biden snapping at a reporter who didn’t “play by the rules” by asking an off-topic question.
An Associated Press reporter asked Biden about Hunter at the news conference after Biden signed a 10-year agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to supply the country with military equipment.
But Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove’s Israel-Gaza question sent Biden over the edge.
Biden retorted: “I wish you guys would play by the rules a little bit. I’m here to talk about a critical situation in Ukraine. You’re asking another subject. I’ll be happy to answer in detail later, but the bottom line is that we made an agreement [in regard to Gaza].”
The WHCA said:
“The White House Correspondents’ Association believes it is in the public interest to make clear that at a presidential press conference, at home or abroad, there are no preconditions regarding question topics,” the statement read. “While the White House does determine the number of reporters the president will recognize, it is up to professional journalists to decide what to ask.”It continued, “Any leader may prefer that reporters ask only one question or ask only about a topic that is of most interest to the president or another world leader, but a free press functions independently. WHCA would welcome more opportunities to pose a range of questions to the president in a press conference setting.”
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