Biden, 81, asks pre-selected reporters to repeat questions multiple times and suddenly shouts ‘whoa’ at shambolic press conference shut down by aides

President Joe Biden had to repeatedly ask for stage directions during a news conference with Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday, where he appeared stunned by TV reporters shouting questions at him at the end.

‘Is that it?’ Biden asked at one point during the proceedings, as reporters from the US and Kenyan media asked questions of each leader in a pre-cooked format.

“What was my question?” Biden asked an American reporter who simultaneously requested a long inquiry from Biden and Ruto.

“Sir, your question was about Haiti,” the reporter told him.

The president brought down the gavel when the first reporter he remembered from a prepared list tried to ask him a few questions: one about Haiti and another about an International Criminal Court order against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“One question,” Biden said, though the reporter tried to ask two anyway.

Biden conspicuously read from printed notes during several of his answers, including when he talked about international credit institutions, injecting a few bromides.

“We are happy to do our part,” he said.

Members of the press, who have not had the opportunity to question the president at a press conference since April, were not satisfied.

A handful of TV correspondents seated near the front jumped up at the end of the 30-minute event to accost Biden with simultaneous questions about Ukraine, Russia and other matters.

‘Wow!’ Biden said, seemingly shocked by the cacophony and outburst of questions.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wrapped up and ended the event before Biden said anything outside the predetermined “two-and-two” format — two questions for each country’s press.

On Israel, Biden sidestepped questions about whether the US would share relevant information with the ICC.

‘Should I also ask the next question?’ President Biden asked about the run-of-show during his “two and two” press conference, which follows a well-established format

He grumbled at the reporter who ramped up the investigation into his question to Ruto, despite Biden trying to limit him to one question.

“You’ll never honor the deal, but that’s OK,” Biden said.

Then, before his substantive response, he said: “We do not recognize jurisdiction” and “We do not think there is an equivalence between what Israel did and what Hamas did,” referring to the October 7 attack in Israel.

After that question, the first, Biden appeared to ask whose turn it was to talk to a reporter.

‘Do I also ask the following question? he asked.

The usual format is for the two leaders to alternate, and in fact it was Ruto’s turn to go next.

Biden also talked about why the US has contributed resources, but not troops, to bring stability to the chaos in Haiti, where Kenyan forces will play a role.

“We came to the conclusion that the United States deploying troops in the hemisphere raises all kinds of questions that could easily be misrepresented about what we’re trying to do,” he said.