‘Why Do You Continue to Trust the Taliban, Mr. President?’ Biden Leaves Presser to Chorus of Shouted Questions

For the first time since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, President Joe Biden fielded questions from the White House press corps. But many of the correspondents did not seem satisfied with the fact that only five reporters were called on.

The news conference came to a halt after approximately 30 minutes in all. The president delivered a brief statement, then selected reporters from five outlets for questions — the AP, ABC, Bloomberg, PBS and NPR. Among those snubbed on Friday were frequent sparring partner Kaitlan Collins of CNN, and Fox News — most often represented by Peter Doocy.

With the somewhat abrupt finish to the news conference, many in the press corps were left unfulfilled, and shouted after the president in an effort to get him to answer one or two more.

“Why do you continue to trust the Taliban, Mr. President?” one reporter yelled out.

Biden, for his part, did not explicitly say at any point in the news conference that he trusted the Taliban. He did say, at one point, with regards to the evacuation efforts, “We’ve been in constant contact with the Taliban leadership on the ground in Kabul … we have been coordinating what we’re doing.”

“One more question, Mr. President please,” another reporter shouted.

But the request went for naught. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken all quickly disappeared.

Watch above via C-SPAN.