Biden Accuses Reporter of Sounding ‘Like a Republican’ After She Asks About Recession: ‘Don’t Make Things Up’

President Joe Biden snapped at a reporter Monday after she asked him about the possibility of a looming recession.

The president was near his property in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware where he has been vacationing. Monday afternoon, he addressed reporters near the water.

“The economists are saying a recession is even more likely than ever,” a woman who has not been identified said to Biden.

He responded, “Not the majority of them aren’t saying that. Come on, don’t make things up, okay? Now you sound like a Republican politician.”

Biden told the woman he was joking.

“But all kidding aside, no, I don’t think it is,” he added, citing a conversation he had with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. “There’s nothing inevitable about a recession.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shared a similar sentiment Sunday when she said she does not view a recession as “inevitable.”

“I expect the economy to slow,” she told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on This Week. “It’s been growing at a very rapid rate, as the economy, as the labor market, has recovered and we have reached full employment. It’s natural now that we expect a transition to steady and stable growth, but I don’t think a recession is at all inevitable.”

Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen tells @GStephanopoulos that a recession isn’t “inevitable,” but says inflation is “unacceptably high.”

“I expect the economy to slow.” https://t.co/xMZVnzRLgN pic.twitter.com/Xx9UpkmWz4

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) June 19, 2022

While the Biden administration is bullish on the economy, some forecasters are projecting a recession in the coming year. Forbes reported:

Japanese investment bank Nomura on Monday became the latest bank to predict an oncoming recession in the U.S. economy sometime later this year—joining the likes of Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley—just days after the Federal Reserve announced a steep hike in interest rates in an effort to control surprisingly high inflation numbers.

…

Nomura’s economists added that inflation is likely to “remain elevated” throughout 2022 and projected that the U.S. economy is likely to contract by 1% next year, compared to an earlier prediction of 1.3% growth.

Watch above, via C-SPAN.