President Biden sat down Friday for a gentle one-one-one with Howard Stern — one day after the New York Times published a statement condemning the 81-year-old for avoiding the press more than any other modern commander in chief.
The former shock jock’s question topics ranged from praising Biden’s new airline reimbursement policy (“so great,” in Stern’s words), asking whether the president’s parents were political, recounting Biden’s schoolboy football experience and meeting his first wife Neilia.
At one point, the “Private Parts” star gushed that Biden had a “very cinematic life,” though it was unclear whether that was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the president’s many questionable anecdotes.
The chat with Stern adds to Biden’s limited interview tally, but the president still has conducted the fewest in-office interrogations of any recent chief executive by a long shot — and an ongoing count by Martha Joynt Kumar, the director of the White House Transition Project, shows it isn’t particularly close.
According to Kumar, Biden has given just 89 total interviews during his first three years in office.
At the same time in their first terms, Donald Trump had given 300 interviews, Barack Obama had given 422, George W. Bush had given 135, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush had each given 168 and Ronald Reagan had given 189, the tally shows.
When Biden does give interviews, they are often with friendly outlets like MSNBC — or the recording is held back for days.
Earlier this month, Univision kept an interview with Biden for six days between recording and release, while the president’s March 28 interview with “Smartless” podcasts co-hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes won’t be released in full until Monday.
Biden has also held just three solo White House press conferences — and only 33 once joint appearances with other world leaders are tallied.
Even these rare occasions have been marked by the octogenarian reading answers off notecards after taking questions from a pre-selected list of reporters.
Trump had 54 total pressers at the third year of his presidency, Obama had 65, W. Bush had 67, Clinton had 113, H.W. Bush came in at 119, while Reagan only had 21, according to Kumar.
On Thursday, the Times slammed Biden for refusing to sit down for more interviews with independent news outlets.
“For anyone who understands the role of the free press in a democracy, it should be troubling that President Biden has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his term. The president occupies the most important office in our nation, and the press plays a vital role in providing insights into his thinking and worldview, allowing the public to assess his record and hold him to account,” the statement began.
“Mr. Biden has granted far fewer press conferences and sit-down interviews with independent journalists than virtually all of his predecessors,” the Times added, noting publisher AG Sulzberger had urged the White House to let Biden sit down with the likes of the Wall Street Journal or Reuters — even if they wants to dodge on-the-record interviews with the Gray Lady.
“Systematically avoiding interviews and questions from major news organizations doesn’t just undermine an important norm, it also establishes a dangerous precedent that future presidents can use to avoid scrutiny and accountability.”
The White House has long argued Biden does make himself available to the press by answering impromptu questions while walking to Marine One and on other occasions.
However, such back-and-forths — of which Biden has had 535 to this point in his term, according to Kumar — are hampered by helicopter noise and lack of time for thorough questioning.
