Republicans hit out at ‘absentee’ President Biden after 50 days without press conference

President Joe Biden takes off his mask to speak about the COVID-19 pandemic during his prime-time address from the East Room of the White House this week

Credit: AP

A host of senior Republicans have hit out at “absentee” President Joe Biden, who has not held a single press conference during his first 50 days in office.

Critics noted this week that Mr Biden has now set the record for the longest time a new president in the past century has gone without giving an official conference.

“It’s Day 52 of Joe Biden’s presidency, and still no scheduled press conference,” tweeted Ronna McDaniel, chairperson of the Republican Party. “Americans deserve to know why, but Biden is too afraid to have a press conference.”

Meanwhile, the GOP Twitter account posted: "50 days in office, and Pres. Biden still hasn’t held a press conference. Americans deserve answers on our border crisis, continued school closures, & his job-killing energy agenda."

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive in Delaware for a short vacation

Credit: Reuters

They were joined by a number of Republican members of Congress and former Trump administration officials.

"He promised to be transparent but he’s been anything but that," said Kayleigh McEnany, former White House spokesperson under Donald Trump who is now a contributor on Fox News.

The stretch is the longest a new president has gone without meeting the press in the past 100 years, dating back to when Calvin Coolidge, a president who was dubbed “Silent Cal”. 

At this point in their first terms, Mr Trump had given five news conferences. Barack Obama had given two, George W. Bush three and Bill Clinton five.

Mr Biden has held a number of announcements in recent weeks, including on vaccine distribution, but has so failed to address pressing issues such as the migrant crisis at the Mexican border.

His advisers are known to cut short question and answer sessions at the end of announcements, ushering the president out of the room.

Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, said last week that the president will hold his first news conference before the end of the month. She said his “time, energy and focus” have been elsewhere — specifically, on the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress this week.

The Washington Post’s editorial board, which endorsed the Democrat’s candidacy, this week urged Mr Biden to get on with it: “Americans have every right to expect that [the president] will regularly submit himself to substantial questioning," they wrote.

Ultra-conservative TV network One America News, meanwhile, called him an “absentee president”.