Biden's most recent interviews with MSNBC, CNN, The Weather Channel avoided any mention of his son Hunter
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AUSTIN, TX - New York Times reporter Zolan Kanno-Youngs took a swipe at President Biden for only granting interviews with "friendly talk show hosts" while speaking at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
During a panel discussion on how journalists cover the Biden administration, Kanno-Youngs appeared alongside other White House correspondents who were asked about the president's lack of availability to the press in comparison to his predecessor former President Trump, who constantly took questions from reporters when he was in office.
Kannos-Youngs began by pointing out that the Trump White House didn't always have daily press briefings and while daily press briefings resumed under the Biden White House, the current administration may have a "different measure" when it comes to transparency.
The Times correspondent also noted how Biden has only given one interview to a print outlet, the Associated Press, in June 2022, though he also granted one with sympathetic Times opinion columnist David Brooks.
Critics have long observed President Biden's historic lack of press availability since he took office. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
"They pretty much made it clear that I don't think they - they see that they may be meeting that standard by putting the president up for interviews with, I would say, friendly talk show hosts and maybe getting their message out on social media," Kanno-Youngs said.
He continued, "Their kind of priority is going to get their message out for the agenda and to galvanize voters. Our priority is going to be to ask them tough questions and hold them to account. And I think there's still value in putting a president up against a reporter from any of our outlets. And if you don't, you know, if you create a void of information, other people are going to fill it with their assumptions, which I think is factored in a bit into questions over whether this is actually a strategy, whether this is potentially protecting him away from reporters."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New York Times correspondent Zolan Kanno-Youngs took a swipe at the Biden White House for prioritizing "friendly talk show hosts" for interviews instead of journalists. (Joseph A. Wulfsohn/Fox News Digital)
As Kanno-Youngs alluded to, Biden's most recent interviews have been friendly ones, beginning in June with a rare live sitdown with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, one in July with CNN's Fareed Zakaria and last month with The Weather Channel.
Notably, there was not a single question from the three interviews where he was asked any questions about the growing legal troubles facing his son Hunter, the allegations of DOJ interference into the Hunter probe by IRS whistleblowers nor the mounting controversy surrounding his family's collection of foreign money that was uncovered by House Republicans.
The last time Biden was asked about Hunter was in May when MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle sympathetically said to the president, "There's something personal that’s affecting you. Your son, while there's no ties to you, could be charged by your Department of Justice. How would that impact your presidency?"
In October 2022, when it was first reported that the DOJ was pursuing tax and gun crime charges against Hunter, CNN's Jake Tapper asked only one question, which was, "Personally and politically, how do you react to that?" before moving on.
President Biden's most recent interviews with The Weather Channel, CNN and MSNBC avoided any questions about his son Hunter's legal troubles and the growing corruption allegations facing his family. (Screenshot/The Weather Channel)
Biden's string of controversies may further prevent him from sitting down with a hard-hitting journalist. The president was slammed for repeating the debunked lie that he almost lost his wife, cat and 1967 Corvette to a house fire in 2004 while speaking to survivors of the Maui wildfires and addressing Hurricane Idalia in an attempt to relate to people's struggles.
He was criticized for his inconsistent mask-wearing as the first lady recovers from COVID and for abruptly leaving a Medal of Honor ceremony early.
He raised eyebrows during his overseas trip for comments he made at his Hanoi press conference, which ended with White House staff playing him off to music as he was responding to reporters.
Biden also faced backlash for not attending any of the 9/11 ceremonies in New York, D.C. and Shanksville, Penn., falsely claiming he was at Ground Zero the day after 9/11, and releasing $6 billion to Iran, the No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism, in exchange for five American prisoners, announced on the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Matters only got worse with the federal gun charges that were brought against Hunter Biden by Special Counsel David Weiss after what was dubbed the "sweetheart deal" that was struck between the president's son and the DOJ was tossed in court.
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Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to
