WATCH: Reporter Shouts ‘Should Americans Be Worried About Nuclear War?’ as Biden Leaves Black History Event

President Joe Biden’s celebration of Black History Month at the White House was punctuated by a reporter yelling “Mr. President, should Americans be worried about nuclear war?”

On Monday — the last day of Black History Month — the president and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden spoke in the East Room at what was billed as “a Celebration to Mark Black History Month,” but which ended on a much different note.

CBS News White House correspondent interrupted the president’s exit from the festivities with an exchange that the official White House transcript described in this way:

So thank you, thank you, thank you. May God bless you all. Thank you. (Applause.)

(The President and First Lady move to exit.)

Q Mr. President, should Americans be worried about nuclear war?

THE PRESIDENT: No.

While the president’s answer was an immediate and blunt “no,” the prospect of nuclear war was worrying enough that no fewer than four reporters asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about it at the daily briefing later in the day, including NBC News’ Kristen Welker specifically asking about Biden’s answer to Cordes.

Psaki’s responses were reassuring in each instance, along these lines:

MS. WELKER: Okay. Just a short time ago, the President was asked by our colleagues here if Americans should be concerned about a nuclear threat. He said very firmly, “No.” Can you explain what gives him that confidence?

MS. PSAKI: Because, as I said a little bit earlier, while we think provocative rhetoric regarding nuclear weapons is dangerous and adds to the risk of miscalculation and should be avoided — which we’re not going to indulge in — we are continuing to assess President Putin’s directive and, at this time, we see no reason to change our own alert levels.

We’ve also seen, throughout this crisis, President Putin falsely allege that they are under threat and use that as a predicate for taking more aggressive action. So, we assess — we have our own capacities and capabilities here, but nuclear war cannot be won.

And what everybody should be doing around the world is taking steps to reduce the rhetoric, reduce the tension, and that’s certainly what our objective is.

Psaki was also asked about the nuclear threat last week, and responded similarly.

Watch above via PBS, NBC News, and C-Span.