President Biden reads from a teleprompter during a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House on July 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images President Biden’s White House went around its normal processes for his first post-debate interview with a Black radio station earlier this week. Why it matters: The White House helped draft the questions that the host asked the president. Then the Biden campaign sent them to the radio station, given it was technically a campaign interview, a person familiar with the matter tells Axios.WURD is the only African-American owned and operated talk radio station in Pennsylvania, but the White House’s director of Black media was not part of the process. It is the latest instance of the White House continuing to shield the president from unscripted moments, even after his debate performance raised further questions about his mental fitness. Driving the news: Radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders told CNN Saturday morning that her “questions were sent to me for approval; I approved of them.” Lawful-Sanders, who hosts “The Source” on WURD in Philadelphia, added: “I got several questions — eight of them. And the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved.” Earl Ingram, who interviewed Biden the day after for his show on a Black radio station in Milwaukee, also told ABC News Saturday: “Yes, I was given some questions for Biden.”
What they’re saying: Biden spokesperson Lauren Hitt told Axios that the “White House did not manage the process or the questions.” “This was a campaign interview and, as such, it was handled by the campaign and our Black Media Director. To overcommunicate, the White House Black media director was not involved because it was a campaign interview and not a White House one.” Between the lines: Presented with this reporting, some Democrats think the White House was cynically and patronizingly using Black media at a moment of crisis. ABlack Democratic strategist in the racial justice space told Axios: “The only reason President Biden is at the top of this ticket is his genuine, long-standing relationship with Black voters, built over decades. For his team to throw that relationship into jeopardy by using Black journalists as human shields for their communications crisis should be a fireable offense.” Zoom out: Michael LaRosa, the former press secretary for First Lady Jill Biden, told Axios that pre-submitting questions to interviewees has long been a tactic for Biden’s team. When he joined the team in the fall of 2019, he said that some members tried to do the same for Jill Biden’s interviews. “I was really uncomfortable and had to explain in a more colorful way,” LaRosa said. “I said specifically. ‘Look, it’s unethical for you to do that. They can be called out for screening the questions for [Joe Biden] but we’re not going to embarrass his wife that way. Ever. Do you get it?'”
Zoom in: The questions Lawful-Sanders asked were gentle and similar to those Ingram asked Biden the next day.
On“The Earl Ingram Show” on WMCS in Milwaukee, he asked Biden: “Can you speak to some accomplishments that we may or not be familiar with about your record, especially here in Wisconsin?
Lawful-Sanders asked the day before: “For people that may say ‘what has the Biden-Harris administration done for me as a Black person’ what progress has been made here in Pennsylvania?”
Ingram asked: “A lot of people have been told or have the mindset that their vote doesn’t matter. What can you say to them?
Lawful-Sanders asked: “What do you say to the people who plan on sitting this election out?”
Hitt, the Biden spokesperson, added: “We do not condition interviews on acceptance of certain questions, and hosts/ reporters are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners.”
President Biden reads from a teleprompter during a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House on July 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images