Biden repeatedly asks for stage directions at presser
President Joe Biden repeatedly had to ask for stage directions during a press conference with Kenyan President William Ruto Thursday where he appeared stunned by TV reporters who shouted questions to him at the end.
'Is that it?' Biden asked at one point during the proceedings, as reporters from U.S. and Kenyan media asked questions to each leader in a pre-cooked format.
'What was my question?' Biden asked a U.S. reporter who asked a long inquiry to Biden and Ruto at the same time.
'Sir, your question was Haiti,' the reporter told him.
The president brought down the hammer when the first reporter he recalled on from a prepared list tried to ask him a pair of questions: one on Haiti, and another an International Criminal Court warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
'One question,' Biden intoned, although the reporter tried for two anyway.
Biden read conspicuously from printed notes during several of his answers, including while speaking about international lending institutions, injecting a few bromides.
President Joe Biden tried to limit a reporter to a single question, then asked 'is that it' when his presser with the president of Kenya was nearly completed Thursday
'We’re happy to do our part,' he said.
Members of the press, who haven't had the chance to question the president in a press conference format since April, weren't satisfied.
A handful of TV correspondents seated up front jumped up at the end of the 30-minute event to should at Biden with simultaneous questions about Ukraine, Russia and other matters.
'Woah!' Biden said, in apparent shock at the cacophony and burst of questions.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shut it down and ended the event before Biden said anything outside of the predetermined 'two-and-two' format – two questions for each country's press.
On Israel, Biden dodged a question about whether the U.S. would share relevant information with the ICC.
'Do I ask the next question as well?' Prestident Biden asked allowed about the run-of-show during his 'two and two' press conference, which follows a well established format
He groused at the reporter who shoe-horned the inquiry into his question to Ruto despite Biden trying to limit him to one.
'You guys never keep the deal but that’s okay,' Biden said.
Then for his substantive answer he said 'we don't recognize the jurisdiction' and 'We don’t think there’s an equivalency between what Israel did and what Hamas did,' in reference to the Oct. 7 attack inside Israel.
Biden appeared to inquire whose turn it was to engage with a reporter after that question, the first.
'Do I ask the next question as well? he asked.
The typical format is for the two leaders to alternate, and it was in fact Ruto's turn to go next.
Biden also spoke to why the U.S. was contribution resources, but not troops, to help try to bring stability to the chaos in Haiti, where Kenyan forces are set to play a role.
We concluded that for the United States to deploy forces in the hemisphere, raises all kinds of questions that can be easily misrepresented about what we’re trying to do,' said.
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