Kayleigh McEnany Compares Biden Appearances to Donald Trump, Barack Obama: 'Where's Joe?'
Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has questioned President Joe Biden having not held a solo press conference, pointing to his predecessors Donald Trump and Barack Obama having done so by the same point in there tenures.
More than 40 days into his presidency, Biden is yet to hold a solo conference. Both Trump and Obama had by this point, both doing so in the February of their first term. Obama's first came on February 9, 2009, while Trump's was on February 16, 2017.
Speaking on Sean Hannity's Fox News program, after it was confirmed she will be working for the station, McEnany questioned Biden not having held one.
"Where's Joe? It's been 41 days, at this point President Trump had had multiple press appearances, press conferences. President Barack Obama had as well," McEnany said on Tuesday.
"Joe Biden needs to step up, we need to hear from him. He needs to engage in the transparency that he promised us, he hasn't thus far."
Last week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked during a press briefing, which she has held daily, if there were plans for Biden to hold a solo press conference "anytime soon."
To this, she replied: "He will hold a solo press conference, but I don't have a date for you at this point in time."
Asked if Biden will get to "pick the inquisitors himself," Psaki said: "Well, typically, any President has a list of people that they're going to call upon. But usually it's a large number of people who are in the press room, and we certainly hope we're able to do that in a COVID-safe way."
Psaki was asked again on Monday if there was any update on when Biden will hold his first press conference. "Not yet, but we will definitely have one," she said.
She told the reporters gathered: "We will schedule it, and you'll be the first to know because you're pivotal participants in that."
White House spokesperson Mike Gwin previously defended Biden on his positions on transparency in comments to Politico, with the outlet highlighting in a recent report on virtual visitor logs for the White House not being released.
"President Biden committed during the campaign to restoring ethics and transparency to government, and in his first weeks in office he's taken significant steps to deliver on that, including by reinstating the daily press briefing, putting in place sweeping ethics guidelines for the administration, and pledging to regularly release visitor logs again," said Gwin, who is the White House's director of rapid response.
Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment on when the president's first solo press conference will be and also asked for comment on his predecessors having held them by this point in their tenures.
