Staff Reports
Karoline Leavitt, the savvy White House Press Secretary, recently illustrated the stark differences between President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden when it comes to press interaction. During a Thursday briefing, Leavitt highlighted a staggering statistic: Trump took more questions from the press in his initial hours of taking office than Biden did in his entire first week. For a media landscape that often reveres the “free press,” this revelation serves as a shocking reminder of just how inaccessible the current administration has become.
Leavitt emphasized the frequency of Trump’s engagements with journalists, noting that he routinely faced their queries, sometimes addressing multiple topics in the same day. It’s almost hard to believe that during Biden’s entire first week, he barely matched a fraction of Trump’s immediate accessibility. In a government where the people’s ability to interact with their leaders is paramount, this revelation paints a troubling image of an administration trying to hide from the tough questions.
Scott Jennings:
The Biden administration treated the press as poorly as ever, gave them less access, answered no questions, no transparency. Donald Trump has answered more questions in 3 weeks than Joe Biden answered in 4 years. pic.twitter.com/1GyXhgMSAY
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) February 13, 2025
One cannot forget the epic visual of Trump during his second term inauguration, eagerly signing executive orders while fielding questions from the press. Contrast that with Biden, whose press conferences have become rarer than a winning lottery ticket. Biden has been noted to hold fewer press events than any of the last seven presidents at the same point in their presidencies—164 for Biden compared to a staggering 468 for Trump. This leads one to wonder whether the current president is intentionally attempting to dodge tough issues or merely lacks the stamina to engage with the media.
The data is hard to ignore. After all, those interviews and press conferences are not just formalities; they are moments for accountability from leadership. George W. Bush managed 248 such appearances during his early tenure, and Ronald Reagan held 262. Meanwhile, Biden sits at the bottom of this troubling leaderboard. His approach could be viewed as a blatant disregard for open dialogue with the press, which raises eyebrows about transparency and the health of democracy under his watch.
Adding insult to injury, Biden’s administration has slashed the number of reporters granted access to the White House by 31%, making the idea of a ‘free press’ feel more like a joke than a principle. This maneuver, signaling a retreat from journalistic access, has seen 442 fewer reporters hold hard passes than in previous administrations. It’s hard to view this as anything but a strategy to prevent uncomfortable questioning—a far cry from the open-door policy during Trump’s era.
Press Secretary Leavitt’s statistics and the actions of the Biden administration reveal a disturbing trend towards evasion and secrecy. Meanwhile, Trump’s approach to addressing the press has been anything but conventional; it has been bold and, most importantly, accessible. As the nation watches, the question persists: is a president’s relationship with the press indicative of their commitment to the values of accountability and transparency? If so, then the current administration might be in far deeper waters than it realizes.
