He’s not Hidin’ anymore!
President Biden suggested Friday that next month’s election may not be peaceable, as he made his first White House briefing room appearance since taking office — and continued a lame-duck explosion in his press availability after years of shunning interviews and news conferences.
“I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful,” the retiring 81-year-old president said during his surprise 15-minute appearance in response to a question from National Public Radio’s Tamara Keith.
“The things that [former President Donald] Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn’t like the outcome of the election were very dangerous,” Biden added.
“Have you noticed? I noticed that the vice presidential Republican candidate [Ohio Sen. JD Vance] did not say he’d accept the outcome of the election and hasn’t even accepted the outcome of the last election. So I’m concerned about what they’re going to do.”
Biden’s appearance was so unexpected that many seats in the briefing room were empty and most of the handful of reporters selected to ask questions defaulted to focus on the conflict in the Middle East.
Trump, 78, responded to Biden’s remarks Friday afternoon at an event in Georgia that focused on Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
“I only can hope that it’s going to be free and fair, and I think in this state it will be and I hope in every state it will be. And I think we’re going to do very well,” said Trump — without addressing whether the election’s resolution would be peaceful.
The outgoing president, who gave his first newspaper interview only last month to the LGBT-focused Washington Blade, has dramatically increased his press engagements as he prepares to move out of the White House on Jan. 20 — after fellow Democrats forced him to end his campaign for a second term July 21 over concern about his mental acuity.
In a rare trifecta, Biden answered multiple questions from journalists Thursday as he departed the White House for a day trip to Florida and Georgia, took questions again while on the ground there, and yet again when he returned to the executive mansion after dark.
Those chats displayed why the president’s unfiltered engagements had been so few.
The gaffe-prone leader caused a jump in crude oil prices by saying Thursday morning that Israel may bomb Iran’s oil facilities, and in his evening gaggle stunned listeners by briefly expressing confusion about “what storm” his questioner was inquiring about, after he spent the day touring Hurricane Helene’s damage.
In the briefing room, he again stumbled, referring to “Hurricane Helena.”
As he left the briefing room Friday afternoon, a reporter shouted to ask if he was considering rejoining the presidential race.
“I’m back in!” Biden said to widespread laughter.
