‘Donald Trump Took Questions Practically Every Day!’ Press Revolts At Briefing Over No Biden Presser On Ireland Trip

White House reporters revolted at the news President Joe Biden would not be doing a press conference on his Ireland trip, with one reporter exclaiming former President Donald Trump “took questions practically every day!”

After a visit from the Easter Bunny, White House National Security chief spokesman John Kirby took questions for the first half of Monday’s press briefing and when asked, told reporters “I don’t expect there’ll be a news conference on this trip.”

That did not sit well with many of the reporters in the room, who grumbled and asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre a series of ever-more-insistent questions about the issue.

In a contentious exchange with Gray TV’s Jon Decker, Jean-Pierre countered by claiming Biden takes more shouted questions than any other president, and Gray shot back that “Trump took questions practically every day” until Election Day — prompting Jean-Pierre to promise “we’ll certainly get the data and share that with all of you”:

JON DECKER: And then the second question has to do with the lack of a press conference during the President’s upcoming trip and the lack of press conference that we see in general from this White House.

I represent a news organization that owns 113 television stations. And a question that I’m often asked — and I don’t know the answer to, so I’ll ask you that question: Is the administration trying to protect the President from our questions? Please answer that question if you could.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

JON DECKER: Then why the lack of any interaction in a formal setting to have a press conference?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, the President takes shouted questions. I —

JON DECKER: In a formal — in a formal setting.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I understand. Jon, I understand.

JON DECKER: Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I understand. I have dealt with this question about three times already. I understand it is — it is — it is the job of you all to ask this question to me. Totally get that. And that’s not a problem at all.

But certainly, the President many times has — has stan- — has stood in front of all of you, has taken questions on his own, because he wanted to see what was on — on your minds, he wanted to see what the questions you all were going to ask him, and he wanted to answer them directly.

That has happened multiple times — many times during this administration. And that will certainly continue to be. When it comes to a formal press conference, I don’t have anything to share with you at this time.

JON DECKER: You recognize — just one last thing.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, sure.

JON DECKER: Just to button it up. You recognize that as it relates to prior administrations, the President’s predecessor, President Obama, President George W. Bush — I’ve been here long enough to have covered President Bill Clinton — this is not the norm.

The norm is we do get an opportunity, ask the questions to the President about domestic and foreign policy issues in a formal setting at some point, and you choose that point. But we haven’t had that opportunity in quite some time.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So I’ll say this: It is also unprecedented that a President takes as many shouted questions as this President has. And he has.

JON DECKER: No.

REPORTER: No, no, no, no.

JON DECKER: I covered the last administration, and I’ll tell you: Almost every day, up until —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay, well, we’ll get —

JON DECKER: — the November 2020 election, Donald Trump took questions practically every day!

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: We’ll certainly — we’ll certainly get the data and share that with all of you.

I hear — Jon —

JON DECKER: Yes.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: — I hear your question. I heard Zeke’s question. I hear you. I hear you on the press conference — on a formal press conference. We get this probably every couple of months when you guys ask us about a formal press conference. I don’t have anything to share with all of you at this time. And — and I’ll just — I’ll just leave it there.

When reached for comment, The White House said they’re compiling the most recent numbers and will have granular results — down to the number of questions taken — within a few days.

But this isn’t the first time this has come up, and there are numbers the White House has previously used to back up Jean-Pierre’s specific claim about informal sessions. The White House contends that Biden — who lags well behind other presidents when it comes to formal press conferences as well as sit-down interviews (pandemic restrictions notwithstanding) — prefers the informal setting because of his decades as a U.S. senator.

In October, an NBC News report based on figures from Martha Kumar of the White House Transition Project showed Biden had participated in 326 “informal Q&A sessions… nearly five times as many as” former President Barack Obama.

Kumar’s figures through the end of September put Biden well ahead of Trump and every other president (through the equivalent point in their administrations) dating back to Reagan:

• Biden – 326
• Trump – 255
• Obama – 68
• Bush 43 – 224
• Clinton – 373
• Bush 41 – 118
• Reagan – 75

Since then, Biden has kept up the pace, taking questions in these settings at least 50 times more. The White House says they’ll soon have an updated tally down to the number of questions — which former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki once pegged at double what Trump took.

None of which is to say Q&A sessions, even if there are more questions in the aggregate, are a substitute for formal press conferences. Oval Office sprays are covered by a very small pool of reporters, limiting the number of sources for questions — while South Lawn departures offer anyone with persistence and an attention-getting question a shot at an answer from Biden.

Watch above via The White House.