White House Correspondents' Association protests 'unacceptable' lack of press access at Biden's Quad Summit
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) called the lack of press access from the Biden administration for this weekend’s Quad Summit “unacceptable” Thursday.
Biden will speak with leaders from Australia, India and Japan on Friday and Saturday at his Wilmington, Delaware home. Reporters, however, will not be allowed to cover these meetings with the White House citing “security concerns.”
WHCA president and Politico correspondent Eugene Daniels said in an email to 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,”
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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.”
“[Press staff] has also walked me through what’s happening at the high school and all of that sounds very in line with these kinds of summits, but I request the administration rethink its posture on the bilateral access to adhere to the long-established standards of press access for these kinds of events,” the email concluded.
Reporters questioned White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about media access for the Quad Summit during Thursday’s press briefing.
“There’s going to be plenty of opportunities,” Jean-Pierre said. “It’s not like we’re not allowing all of you to see many other things that are going to develop throughout the day. I just went through them. A quick family photo. He’s going to take them to his high school. You all are going to be there. There’s going to be some really important announcement about cancer moonshot. You all are going to be there. There’s going to be an opportunity to see them when they leave on Saturday as well. You’ll see him saying goodbye to the leaders on Saturday. I hear you all, but can you also appreciate that we have created other opportunities?”
She said it was “not unusual” for the press to not have access to the president as he meets with foreign leaders at his home and continued to emphasize how reporters would be able to see Biden and the world leaders when they leave.
Reporters objected that past presidents have allowed press pools when hosting foreign leaders at their homes.
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Jean-Pierre also dismissed complaints from reporters that these were only “photo ops.”
“I think people actually care about photo ops. Photo ops are indeed important, and maybe there will be questions taken during those photo ops. You never know, right? But a formal press conference on this trip is not going to happen with this particular event is not going to happen. We have gone back and forth on many other events. So that’s what I’m saying is not unusual. We wanted to make sure that there was plenty of press access throughout the day, and we believe we have done that. And let’s see how the day goes,” Jean-Pierre said.
The WHCA has previously criticized the Biden administration for limiting media access and repeatedly attacking reporters for negative press.
