President Joe Biden held his first formal press conference on Thursday, much later than any of his predecessors because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He interacted with only 25 pre-selected journalists.
He began his conference by announcing 200 million vaccine doses to be administered by the end of his first 100 days in the office.
President Biden faced immediate questions after briefing the reporters on the benefits of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan and how it will help the economy to recover from the hazardous effects of the pandemic.
The journalists took the opportunity to ask a wide variety of questions, ranging from migrant surge to the COVID-19 vaccine and the American Rescue Plan. Reporters also posed some serious questions about the reopening of the schools, stimulus checks delivery, and his views on calls to end the filibusters.
His foreign policy agenda was also discussed in great detail as he highlighted the diplomatic challenges he was facing with North Korea, Afghanistan, and China.
President Biden used “cheat sheets” to give out the details at the press conference. The sheets had key points and discussion agendas written on them. This is not the first time a president has used sheets in a press conference. Donald Trump was also spotted holding cheat notes while he addressed the reporters in November 2019 for his first impeachment hearing.
Critics have asked the Biden Administration to ensure that the President holds a press conference regularly.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki holds briefings on a regular basis.
President Joe Biden did affirm that he would like to contest the 2024 presidential elections.
Surprisingly, the gun control issue was not discussed in detail. It is one of the burning issues facing the U.S. due to an unprecedented rise in the number of shooting incidents for the past couple of weeks.
President Biden wrapped up his press conference by claiming that he was ready to work with Republicans to make the situation better.
