Is Biden trying to bury his own interview? President books first sit-down of 2024 campaign with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle to air TONIGHT at 10 p.m. — when Americans are partying for Cinco de Mayo or going to bed
- President Joe Biden will join an interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle Friday night at 10 p.m.
- It will be his first one-on-one with a television reporter since speaking to PBS Newshour in February
- When asked about Friday night’s timing, a White House official said the interview was related to the previously held Investing in America Cabinet meeting
President Joe Biden has booked his first interview since announcing his 2024 reelection campaign.
The president will sit down with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle for an interview that will air Friday night at 10 p.m. — when many Americans are on their way to Cinco de Mayo or going to bed.
It will be his first one-on-one with a television reporter since speaking to PBS Newshour in February and comes after the White House has been pressured to give him fewer press conferences and interviews than his predecessors.
A White House official told DailyMail.com that Ruhle’s sit-down was “not a campaign interview.”
Instead, it had to do with the Investing in America Cabinet meeting the president attends earlier in the day, which is why it airs Friday night. The official added that parts of the interview will air earlier on Friday and over the weekend.
President Joe Biden has booked his first interview since announcing his 2024 reelection campaign, with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle airing late Friday night
The network said Biden’s conversation with Ruhle would be “comprehensive.”
They will discuss “the government’s infrastructure agenda, the 2024 campaign and recently announced reelection bid, the forming GOP field, the looming debt ceiling crisis and more,” according to a press release from the network.
The 80-year-old Biden made his re-election official last Tuesday by releasing a video.
He hasn’t hit the campaign trail since then – spending most of this week out of the public eye.
The president and first lady hosted a state dinner for South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol last Wednesday — where Biden did participate in a traditional bilateral press conference, where leaders answer questions from two elected journalists from each country.
On Saturday night, Biden attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where he was pressured by White House Correspondents’ Association president Tamara Keith to be more accessible to reporters.
“Every president privately and sometimes publicly slows down his reporting. And yet they invite us to come in and answer our questions,” Keith said. “Although, sir, maybe not as much as we’d like,” she said, turning to Biden, who was sitting nearby on the podium.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle will be the first television journalist to have a one-on-one interview with Biden since February. It is his first since announcing his re-election in 2024
Two weeks ago, The New York Times cited Biden’s press embarrassment a “deliberate strategy” noting that in the 100 years since President Calvin Coolidge took office, only Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan held as few press conferences as Biden.
He has yet to do a sit-down interview with an American newspaper.
In total, he conducted 54 interviews before meeting Ruhle on Friday.
By comparison, former President Donald Trump conducted 202 interviews during his first two years in office, while former President Barack Obama conducted 275 interviews, according to The Times.
When asked on Wednesday what the president was up to since he hadn’t been seen in nearly 48 hours, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “he’s met with — having internal meetings in the Oval Office ‘.
“I met with him earlier today with his senior advisers, senior staff, to talk about the issues that matter to the American people,” she told reporters.
‘It’s not uncommon. This is something he does every day. And like you said, you’ll see him later tonight. Press will be available for the toast the president is about to make,” she said, referring to a Wednesday night dinner hosted by the White House.
“It’s going to be, as you know, an open press available at the top. And then you get to see the president,’ Jean-Pierre said.