(CNN) 鈥� For weeks,聽the White House press corps has been boiling 鈥� and not from the Washington, DC, heat.
They鈥檙e frustrated. Some feel the White House misled the press before President Joe Biden鈥檚 stumbling performance . Others have been exasperated by the White House鈥檚 response since then to questions about the president鈥檚 health, often leading to follow-ups and clarifications from the administration on otherwise straightforward questions. And nearly all of the White House correspondents who spoke to CNN for this report felt the president should have held a press conference with reporters in the immediate aftermath of the debate.
Now, two weeks after , journalists from the nation鈥檚 biggest news outlets will finally get their chance to question the president directly when Biden takes questions Thursday evening during the NATO summit.
Expect fireworks.
Since the debate, the journalists tasked with covering the White House have been imploring the president鈥檚 communications team 鈥� who said the debate was just a 鈥渂ad night鈥� 鈥� to prove it, allowing him to take questions directly from the press.
鈥淭his is a period of time here where the public is trying to understand what happened,鈥� NBC鈥檚 Kelly O鈥橠onnell said on July 2. 鈥淎nd the president could help to answer that by engaging with us in an unscripted way right now.鈥�
In the weeks since the debate, a media frenzy has erupted around Biden, with the White House and Biden campaign聽coming under intense scrutiny for any sign that aides are attempting to shield the president or potentially cover up any of his missteps that might show a decline.
The聽discontent has been on full display in the White House briefing room, where reporters have openly sparred with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, particularly over the president鈥檚 medical history. Amid pushback from the press, the White House has been forced to revisit answers to some questions.
CBS News senior White House correspondent聽Ed O鈥橩eefe laid it all out during a dust-up with Jean-Pierre on Monday.
鈥淲ell, we鈥檙e a little miffed around here about how information has been shared with the press corps,鈥� he聽said.聽鈥淵ou answer it incorrectly and then have to come back and clean it up a few days later.鈥�
鈥淣o, wait a minute,鈥� Jean-Pierre replied. 鈥淐alm 鈥� Ed, please.聽A little respect here, please.鈥�
Jean-Pierre said she and the White House communications staff have been doing 鈥渙ur best in this briefing to provide the information that we have.鈥�
鈥淚 will be the first one to admit: Sometimes I get it wrong. At least I admit that,鈥� she added.
But the exchange was symbolic of the growing distrust between the White House communications team and the press corps, which has bristled over聽what they perceive to be聽a lack of transparency and access to Biden, who has conducted fewer press conferences than his recent predecessors.
The following day, Jean-Pierre was asked about a neurologist鈥檚 visit to the White House earlier this year, which she denied had been related to the president. But later that evening, Jean-Pierre聽聽correcting her comments.
鈥淭his is the second time in less than a week where the briefing had prompted a need for later clarification on questions about the president鈥檚 health,鈥� Associated Press White House reporter Seung Min Kim said in the briefing room Tuesday.
It turned out the neurologists鈥� visits were not all related to the president, after a breathless news cycle that, at times, implied the president was being treated for Parkinson鈥檚 (the White House says he is not).聽But while the tense moments in the briefing room may seem to focus on small details and semantics, for the press it鈥檚 about credibility.
鈥淚 think this is a credibility crisis writ large for the White House, and certainly as a spokesperson for the White House, this is a credibility crisis for her,鈥� one White House reporter told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the situation.
鈥淚f they were answering truthfully, with a sense of fidelity to the question in a well-meaning way, you wouldn鈥檛 necessarily see (those blow-ups in the briefing room),鈥� the reporter added.
The reporter said the press corps has not suddenly decided 鈥渢o get tough鈥� on the White House in wake of the debate, noting that reporters have been frustrated with how Jean-Pierre has answered from the podium for more than a year and a half.
鈥淲e saw the debate. We asked questions. The answers that we got in response to those questions were unsatisfactory,鈥� the reporter said. 鈥淎nd so we鈥檙e reporters, looking, probing when given unsatisfactory answers.鈥�
In a statement to CNN, White House spokesman Andrew Bates defended Jean-Pierre, saying she 鈥渢akes hard questions every day, providing thorough answers鈥� and represents President Biden 鈥渨ith grace and integrity.鈥�
鈥淎nd she does that with respect, knowing it鈥檚 the obligation of journalists to constantly ask for more information; and that if any White House press corps, in any administration, were ever satisfied they would not be doing their jobs,鈥� Bates said. 鈥淲hatever disagreements she may have with reporters, she never gives anonymous quotes criticizing any of them. Instead, she keeps her office door open.鈥�
Even before the debate, Biden has held fewer press conferences than his most recent predecessors.
Biden has held 36 press conferences thus far in his presidency, fewer than former presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush at the same point in their presidencies. While the White House has countered that聽Biden has held聽more聽off-the-cuff interactions with the press than his predecessors while traveling to events and meetings, reporters say those are nowhere near the same as an open format press conference.
Bates said Biden has 鈥減roudly fought for the rights of journalists in the world and spoken forcefully about the 鈥榗ritical鈥� role of the press in American democracy 鈥� rather than slander them as 鈥榚nemies of the people.鈥� In line with those values, his team reinstated daily press briefings and works hard to be informative and factual, including by releasing more documentation on policy than at any time in American history.鈥�
But a former White House staffer under President Bill Clinton told CNN that Biden鈥檚 team had deployed an astute strategy to not put the president in front of the media聽as often because they have to 鈥減lay to his strengths, which is not a news conference.鈥�
鈥淭he media鈥檚 game is,聽鈥榣et鈥檚 do a press conference, because that鈥檚 the only way you can demonstrate to us.鈥� Well, guess what? They don鈥檛 need to demonstrate to the media. They need to demonstrate to the country,鈥� the former staffer said. 鈥淎nd if I were advising them, I would say, play to his strengths. And if that means fixed events, that means, you know, less formal interviews, whatever it is, that鈥檚 what I tell them to do.鈥�
But as questions continue to swirl around Biden鈥檚 mental fitness, a mounting challenge for the White House and Biden鈥檚 campaign is the growing belief that the White House and campaign have not been transparent about his condition.
鈥淲e are in the midst of a full-blown feeding frenzy,鈥� former CNN White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief Frank Sesno said.
Sesno and former White House correspondents and officials told CNN that questions surrounding Biden鈥檚 age and performance, along with how the White House is handling the issue, are legitimate and warrant scrutiny. But they cautioned that the emphasis of the reporting needs to be on how Biden has fundamentally changed over time.
鈥淚f a subtext takes hold in the press corps, it鈥檚 very, very difficult for a president to break out of that, and Biden is dealing with that today 鈥� that he鈥檚 too old,鈥� said Kenneth Walsh, the author of 鈥淭he Architects of Toxic Politics in America鈥� and a former White House correspondent for U.S. News & World Report. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the story that we鈥檙e all focused on now, because we see evidence of it, and so it鈥檚 a rather easy story to do, and it鈥檚 a dramatic story, and it鈥檚 valuable to keep people focused on it because we think it鈥檚 important to understanding this president.鈥�
The-CNN-Wire
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