With the topic in his wheelhouse, NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck was back on the Fox News Channel late Friday/early Saturday for Fox News @ Night to sound off on the latest antics from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and the White House’s purposeful restricting of press access to President Biden amid a litany of domestic and foreign crises.
Reacting to a mini-skirmish from Thursday’s briefing in which even friendly liberal journalists blasted Jean-Pierre and her team for keeping Biden from even traditional press conferences with foreign leaders, Houck said the issue “shouldn’t be partisan” and certainly at a time when people “want to hear from the President.”
Houck speculated that, in light of Biden’s aversion to press conferences, “deep down, a lot of these reporters miss Donald Trump because he would frequently take questions during pool sprays or cabinet meetings would become impromptu press conferences.”
He also credited some of the journalists who’ve raised concerns about press access, including (but not limited to) ABC’s Karen Travers, Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich, NBC correspondent and White House Correspondents Associations President Kelly O’Donnell, and even “Biden sycophant” Darlene Superville of the Associated Press.
“But you notice then the doesn’t make it into stories on the front page. It doesn’t make it into these newscasts. If press access is as important as they made it out to be during the Trump years, they should be doing the same during the Biden years. And they’re just not. Despite the fact that during these briefings they’re emitting it’s a problem,” he added.
Host Trace Gallagher concurred it’s all the more problematic as Biden’s “got a very friendly press, so, why isn’t he addressing them” since “it’s not like they’re going to throw these hardballs at him” and he “only…call[s] on…who he wants”.
After Gallagher predicted the White House is keenly aware that the press “will move on” from any number of negative stories “if [Biden] ignores the press long enough,” Houck cited two recent visits from foreign leaders that didn’t result in the traditional presser in which two reporters from each country’s press corps is called on:
[Y]ou look at two other foreign leaders that came recently to the White House The German chancellor to talk about Ukraine, so, that’s a really big topic…The Brazilian president, they had violence in their country as well. The threat of China in that country…and what’s interesting is President Lula of Brazil. This isn’t his first rodeo. He’s returning to office and he came out to the sticks — the set of microphones outside the driveway of the White House to talk to reporters afterward.
Wrapping up the segment, Houck argued it’s nonsense for Jean-Pierre to claim as she did recently that the lack of press conferences on foreign visits was because they’re at the whims of said visitor:
[F]or Karine Jean-Pierre to say…that, well, you know, it’s really what both sides want to do, and we’re at the mercy of, you know, the foreign leader that’s coming to visit us. It just makes absolutely no sense.
To see the relevant transcript from March 18, click “expand.”
FNC’s Fox News @ Night with Trace Gallagher
March 18, 2023
12:02 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: White House Slowdown; Biden Doesn’t Take Questions as Multiple Crises Fester]
TRACE GALLAGHER: Let’s bring in NewsBusters’s Managing Editor, Curtis Houck. Curtis, great to have you on as always. I want to play this montage because I think it pretty much makes the point and we’ll get your opinion on the other side. Watch.
ANDREA SHALAL [on 03/16/23]: Karine, he never answers questions during those pool sprays.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE [on 03/16/23]: That’s not true. He has — he’s answered.
REPORTER [on 03/16/23]: Very seldom.
SEBASTIAN SMITH [on 03/16/23]: We get shouted at.
REPORTER [on 03/16/23]: We get shoved out.
SMITH [on 03/16/23]: We get yelled at. “Press, thank you! Thank you!”
DARLENE SUPERVILLE [on 03/16/23]: Will you commit to having him answer a question tomorrow?
JEAN-PIERRE [on 03/16/23]: It’s not — here’s —
REPORTER [on 03/16/23]: We get yelled at during those.
SUPERVILLE [on 03/16/23]: The press is normally shouted down when we’re in the Oval Office.
JEAN-PIERRE [on 03/16/23]: But —
SUPERVILLE [on 03/16/23]: You shout at us to get out.
JEAN-PIERRE [on 03/16/23]: But here’s — I — I hear you guys. I hear you guys.
[SCREEN WIPE]
[SHOUTING]
GALLAGHER: I mean, you can see, Curtis, the President is out in public, but he might as well be back in the basement because he’s not saying anything. What do you think about this?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: “Suspicious Silences”; Critics Slam Biden Over Refusal to Answer Questions]
CURTIS HOUCK: Yeah, Trace. I mean, this is one of those moments where you want to hear from the President and it shouldn’t be partisan. You wonder if, deep down, a lot of these reporters miss Donald Trump because he would frequently take questions during pool sprays or cabinet meetings would become impromptu press conferences. And that montage, you know, you had the ABC’s Karen Travers and you know, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell in the past has raised questions. Jacqui Heinrich of this network has raised questions as well. Darlene Superville, you know, usually a Biden sycophant in the front row there from the AP raising questions as well. But you notice then the doesn’t make it into stories on the front page. It doesn’t make it into these newscasts. If press access is as important as they made it out to be during the Trump years, they should be doing the same during the Biden years. And they’re just not. Despite the fact that during these briefings they’re emitting it’s a problem.
GALLAGHER: Yeah, and many would ask, look, he’s got a very friendly press, so, why isn’t he addressing them? I mean, it’s not like they’re going to throw these hard balls at him. He’s only going to call on, on who he wants, but you go down the list like we did at the top of the show Curtis, and you have Russia knocking down U.S. military aircraft, you have banks that are failing, you have the Biden family involved in these potential kickbacks. There’s a lot to answer for and he’s not answering and they let him get away with it because they know if he ignores the press long enough, they will move on.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: No Comment; Reporters Question Press Secretary on Biden’s Silence]
HOUCK: Yeah, exactly. I mean, you look at two other foreign leaders that came recently to the White House The German chancellor to talk about Ukraine, so, that’s a really big topic as well. The Brazilian president, they had violence in their country as well. The threat of China in that country is well. And, and what’s interesting is President Lula of Brazil. This isn’t his first rodeo. He’s returning to office and he came out to the sticks — the set of microphones outside the driveway of the White House to talk to reporters afterward. So, for Karine Jean-Pierre to say at one point, as she did in recent weeks that, well, you know, it’s really what both sides want to do, and we’re at the mercy of, you know, the foreign leader that’s coming to visit us. It just makes absolutely no sense.
GALLAGHER: Yeah, it really does. Curtis Houck, great insight as always, thank you for coming on. We appreciate it.
HOUCK: Thanks, Trace.