A few hours into his presidency, President Trump pulled the press corps into the Oval Office while he signed executive orders. Four years earlier, former President Biden did the same. But the two scenes couldn’t have looked more different.
When President Biden pulled reporters into the Oval Office on Jan 20, 2021, he gave brief remarks, signed a few orders, and answered a quick question on the letter Trump left him before his staff moved the press out. The moment was just a few minutes in total.
In contrast, on his inauguration day alone, Trump took 75 total questions and follow-ups over 48 minutes. Some questions he responded to as he signed an executive order. Others would cause him to pause and think before taking the time to respond.
“Transparency is back,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly tweeted in response to a Daily Caller analysis on just how much more accessible
Access to the president is, yes, about transparency, but it also is about much more. Such access humanizes the president and allows President Trump to display his knowledge on a broad number of topics. President Trump frequently calls on reporters himself, and with the high volume of questions the president is taking, everyone—not just the mainstream media—is getting a chance to ask something.
On his first full day in office, President Trump made an announcement about an AI infrastructure deal. He then opened the floor up for questions and took them for 29 minutes. The questions hardly touched on his announcement but ranged from the Russia-Ukraine war to the future of TikTok and his recent wave of pardons.
Peter Alexander of NBC News asked the President about his pardon of Jan. 6 protestors, a topic important to the mainstream media in its viewers.
Later, President Trump called on me and I asked about whether safety concerns were a factor when moving his inauguration indoors, a question many of the Daily Caller’s readers and the President’s base had.
At the end of the press conference, I had had more interactions with President Trump than I ever had with President Biden in my year covering his presidency. And at the conclusion of the 29 minutes, the President had taken questions from outlets all over the political spectrum, something that was rare in Biden press conferences.
Such access also makes the press better. And trust me, they want it.
I recently wrote a column in the Daily Caller about my experience covering the Biden administration.
It revealed stories about how the press cozied up to the administration and pushed aside journalists who threatened their narrative.
But despite all of this, there has always been a hunger for a president who engaged more with the press. And like him or not, the press corps knew that Trump was that guy and Biden was not giving them the access reporters deserve.
“It’s night and day,” one reporter remarked to me during the Biden admin about the difference between the two.