Joe Biden is a champion at doing things off the radar and secretively.
Whether it is campaigning from the basement or taking more vacations in a month than financially strapped Americans can take in a year under his failed economy, he knows how to avoid the press.
Fox News reports that Biden is meeting privately with the three other world leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) at his Delaware estate away from the press and away from any probative questions.
The White House released statements acknowledging Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had already met with Biden. On Saturday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen arriving at his home.
The excessively private meetings have engendered outrage from the White House Correspondents’ Association.
WHCA president and Politico correspondent Eugene Daniels said in an email to the press obtained by Fox News Digital, “The lack of access to the president of the United States for these bilateral meetings due to a location chosen by the White House is unacceptable to the WHCA.”
In a message to the White House, Daniels said, “My understanding is that the current posture of the administration is for the press to only see the leaders drive in with no eyes, or cameras on POTUS in this historic moment. I can’t remember a time where this president has had a bilateral meeting on US soil and the press and therefore the American people were blocked from seeing it.”
He continued, “And the WHCA’s position is that shouldn’t be the case this time either. [We] have talked through different scenarios and possibilities for the pool to be able to cover these moments. While we understand that there are security concerns, it’s essential for the public to have direct and independent press accounts of the greetings at the very least.”
Administration officials have attempted to spin the secretive approach and venue by shaping the meetings as a gesture of hospitality during the waning days of Biden’s administration.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told the press, “These are personal relationships that mean a lot to him. And he believes personal relationships are important to foreign policy.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked by AP’s Zeke Miller, “The President’s hosting the Quad summit in Wilmington, Delaware. We also understand that he’s hosting bilateral meetings with those some of those with those world leaders at his private home and what we currently understand is that the press will not be allowed into that bilateral. I mean if you explain why that — this is the administration that held itself out as the most transparent in history, and that is not transparency?”
KJP responded, “Oi — okay. Let’s talk about the other things that are happening over the course of the Quad summit. Look, we have stated one of the reasons we talked about having — uh — having the Quad summit in Wilmington is because — uh — the President believes how powerful it is to have that personal relationships and he wants to — uh — certainly, he has developed personal relationships with — uh — members of the quad and he wants to — uh — do — do — he took it a step further, obviously by having them in his hometown — uh — and so, diplomacy, he sees, as personal politics as personal, foreign policies is personal.”
Watch:
AP’s @ZekeJMiller: “The President’s hosting the Quad summit in Wilmington, Delaware. We also understand that he’s hosting bilateral meetings with those some of those with those world leaders at his private home and what we currently understand is that the press will not be… pic.twitter.com/cfnzlFsup2
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 19, 2024
Ironically, the Indian Press Corps had more access to Narendra Modi’s visit than the American press have to Joe Biden.
The White House blocked American press from documenting the president’s “personal meetings” with the other leaders of the Quad.
But somehow, the Indian delegation was able to broadcast LIVE from the front door of the Biden household. https://t.co/ADevBIHbQB
— Ed O’Keefe (@edokeefe) September 21, 2024
