Biden’s use of ‘cheat sheets’ extends back to his very first news conference
President Joe Biden’s habit of relying on note cards of printed information for his press conferences dates back to the very beginning of his presidency, when a handy “cheat sheet” contained a predetermined list of which reporters to call upon.
The latest example of Biden caught in an embarrassing long-lens photo came Wednesday, when he held a ‘two-and-two’ press conference in the Rose Garden — only to reveal the text of an apparently pre-screened question on a slim note card. That came after he was criticized for not holding a formal press conference during his trip to Ireland.
In this case, the card showed not only the name and face of the reporter he called, but also a version of the question he was asked — asking questions about how the White House determines who gets called and whether a notification is about the content is the entrance fee.
It was far from the only time Biden’s aides helped him in front of a high-profile presser.
President Joe Biden has relied on note cards since taking office in January 2021 — sometimes captured by long-lens photographers
There were lingering questions about Biden’s media practices on Thursday, as he planned to surround himself with children on the South Lawn as part of Take Your Child to Work Day.
Biden himself referred to “cheat sheets” during the first formal press conference of his presidency, in March 2021.
For that full press conference, he kept a printed list of reporters attending the event, with photos of those in attendance and those he planned to call circled with numbers.
At a previous event, he has held a card labeled “The President” and labeled “Infrastructure” with highlights about US infrastructure, bridges, and China ticked off.
The 80-year-old made his latest blunder during a joint press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to celebrate 70 years of friendship with the United States. It came days after he announced his presidential campaign, as one of his campaign co-chairs told DailyMail.com, that he would run a “robust” campaign that would not be limited to a “Rosary Strategy.”
The cards, prepared by aides, list Biden’s own senior officials who participated in the White House ceremony and potential topics of conversation.
“How do YOU reconcile your domestic priorities – such as re-horsing semiconductor manufacturing – with alliance-based foreign policy?” read Los Angeles Times reporter Courtney Subramanian’s question.
Photographers picked up the memo, drafted by aides, with instructions for answering questions that reporters had provided in advance
The long-serving Washington correspondent was one of two journalists called; another reporter demanded to know if the president was too old to run again.
The question Biden was asked was sharper and more detailed than what was on the card, but it was on the same topic.
The president’s latest oversight will fuel criticism that since taking office in January 2021, he has rarely allowed himself to be fancied by the media.
In contrast, former President Donald Trump regularly appeared at White House press conferences to ask questions himself. Trump regularly went back and forth with reporters during his events, including some from less friendly outlets he would call “fake news.” But one of his White House press secretaries did not hold a press conference for a year.
Biden has supposedly left confidential notes in plain sight of the media in the past, relying on note cards for at least part of his 36-year tenure in the Senate, where many lawmakers carry cards with scheduling information.
Photographers caught him revealing a cheat sheet at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November that told him when to sit down and take pictures.
A close-up photo of the sitting president showed him holding a list of instructions that said, “YOU will sit in the center,” and “YOU will make opening remarks.”
The then 79-year-old attended the two-day summit in Bali, Indonesia along with other world leaders.
Biden was also caught with a similar note at a June 2022 meeting with wind industry executives.
This one had the same format for what was called a “Drop-By” event, a block away from the Oval Office.
“YOU enter the Roosevelt Room and greet the participants. YOU take YOUR place. Press enter. YOU give short comments,” it read, with a length hidden in an image.
“YOU ask Liz Shuler, President, AFL-CIO, a question. Note: Liz is participating virtually,” the card helpfully reminds. YOU thank the participants. You leave,’ is the conclusion.
Biden opens his notes during the press conference with the South Korean president Wednesday afternoon
The two leaders met to celebrate 70 years of friendship between the United States and South Korea
The 79-year-old was also instructed to speak to specific attendees, asking them questions and thanking them before leaving the room at the June 2022 meeting.
President Biden was prompted to wipe a yellow mark off his face during a Zoom meeting with state governors after a staffer handed him a note that read, “Sir, there’s something on your chin”
Biden sometimes uses the cards to write down things he wants to say at events
Handwritten slashes can indicate when Biden completed a point he and his aides wanted him to make. Biden, who suffers from a speech impediment, has spent decades learning ways to solve the problem
The White House has continued the practice, even as photographers have continued to photograph the maps, as an AFP photographer did in August 2022 at a flooding event in Kentucky
Then, earlier that year, Biden was mocked for using a printed “cheat sheet” with answers to expected questions when he faced the media to discuss the war in Ukraine.
The notes read, “If you weren’t advocating for regime change, what did you mean? Can you clarify?’ Another read: “Does this now threaten to shatter unity with your NATO allies?”
Biden had already prepared an answer on the printed card: “No. NATO has never been so united.’
And in an embarrassing conversation, an aide asked him to wipe a smudge off his face during a Zoom call with state governors in July 2021.
He regularly uses cue cards, and they were a regular part of the campaign trail in 2020.
But the repeated exposure of his descriptive notes has led to concerns about his well-being and health.
Republican lawmakers have suggested Biden’s apparent decline makes him unfit for a second four-year term.