President Joe Biden was hit with "softball" questions from the media Thursday in Washington, D.C., at his first solo news conference of the year, according to his critics.
Biden has been facing increasing pressure over questions about his mental fitness and calls to bow out of the 2024 presidential election following what many have called a disastrous performance in last month's debate with former President Donald Trump.
While speaking to the press at the annual NATO summit on Thursday, an event that multiple White House aides referred to as a "big boy press conference," Biden repeatedly indicated that he has no intention of leaving the race while also fielding foreign policy questions.
However, critics of the president quickly noted on social media that Biden said he had "been given a list of people to call on" before taking questions, with some also denouncing a number of the questions that were asked.
"Why is Joe Biden only taking questions from a pre-approved list?" the House Republicans account wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
"Biden was 45 minutes late, opened with a teleprompter speech, read off a list of reporters equipped with softball questions, stocked the room with foreign press that doesn't really understand what's going on," conservative commentary account The Columbia Bugle wrote. "And he still botched it! It's the debate debacle all over again!"
"The only thing weaker and more feeble than Biden are the questions coming from these reporters. #BigBoyPressConference," wrote conservative commentator Todd Starnes.
"Stupid question example: Will you be ready to deal with Xi and Putin three years from now?" former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly wrote. "What did the reporter think Biden would say, no? Absurd."
"Did the Polish news reporter get his question from Joe Biden's campaign team? Oof," wrote conservative talk radio host Jason Rantz.
Mehdi Hasan, progressive former MSNBC host, wrote: "My big issue with this press conference is not actually Biden's mental fitness but the failure of any reporters to ask a single question about Biden re-sending 500-pound bombs to Israel to use against Palestinian civilians. Israel just bombed and killed kids in a playground."
In response to Newsweek's request for comment, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates pointed out that former President Barack Obama had also used a list of reporters to call on while taking questions at a press conference in 2014.
Others offered support for Biden on X, praising the president for his handling of questions on foreign policy while discounting concerns about his advanced age and mental sharpness.
"Biden is 81-years-old," columnist Wajahat Ali wrote. "He voice is no longer that strong and he isn't the same as before. It's clear. But he is understanding the questions and giving complex answers. Doesn't seem like the narrative of mental decline. Now literally compare the substance of his answers to Trump from this week."
"Biden knows his stuff. Can anyone imagine Trump answering any of these foreign policy questions with any coherence?" wrote retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a key figure in the first Trump impeachment.
Questions about Biden's mental fitness from within his own party are likely to continue, with at least 18 sitting Democratic lawmakers having called on the president to step aside as of Thursday.
Biden also did little to assuage concerns about his supposed mental decline by committing two major gaffes on Thursday.
Hours before the solo news conference began, Biden referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as "President Putin" while introducing him at the NATO conference.
While responding to his first question at the presser, Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump."
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Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
