Did The Biden Administration Tell An LA Times Reporter What Question to Ask?

Is the Biden administration telling reporters what to ask the president during his extremely infrequent press conferences?

That's the obvious implication of a story resulting from a recent press conference held by the 80-year-old president.

Biden was photographed holding a cheat sheet telling him which reporter to call on first. But even more importantly, the sheet showed, nearly word for word, the question he'd be asked.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 26: U.S. President Joe Biden looks at a note card referencing a reporter as he delivers remarks during a joint press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in the Rose Garden at the White House, April 26, 2023 in Washington, DC. President Biden is hosting President Yoon on his first visit to the United States as the two nations have reached a nuclear weapons agreement. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Courtney Subramanian, identified in the photo, is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

The fact that Subramanian's question was prepared for Biden was ridiculous enough, but the situation may be even more absurd than originally believed.

When asked about the note card by Fox News, the LA Times denied submitting a question for approval by the White House.

So, uh, who did?

Can Biden Not Answer Spontaneous Questions?

The LA Times' denial brings up an obvious, yet stunning, possibility: that the White House wrote the question.

If Subramanian didn't submit the question ahead of time, how did Biden's team get access to it?

There may be another explanation, but the Biden administration clearly had the question with enough lead time to prepare a photo, pronunciation, and almost exact wording.

How is that possible if it wasn't submitted to his team ahead of time? Or if the White House drafted the question themselves and laundered it through an LA Times reporter?

It's been clear since the 2020 campaign that Biden's handlers work overtime to protect him from having to answer questions.

They even frequently provide him with a list of people who will be at his press conference, including his own Secretary of State and Press Secretary.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 26: U.S. President Joe Biden holds a note card as he delivers remarks during a joint press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in the Rose Garden at the White House, April 26, 2023 in Washington, DC. President Biden is hosting President Yoon on his first visit to the United States as the two nations have reached a nuclear weapons agreement. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

It's no wonder that press conferences have been so infrequent during his term that even his allies at the New York Times have noticed.

Despite being repeatedly caught with embarrassing cheat sheets to help Biden through his obvious mental decline, they continue to use them. And Biden continues to wave them around, cluelessly.

Imagine the outcry from the press if this had happened under the Trump administration. Or if Ron DeSantis in Florida demanded reporters either submit their wording ahead of time or accept pre-written questions.

There would be countless think pieces decrying the collapse of the free press and rapid spread of fascism in the United States. But with Biden, they shrug and silently move on because they agree with him ideologically.

Not that there was much doubt, but whatever tattered shreds of faux objectivity the media had left are rapidly being destroyed.