White House Press Secretary Todd Blanche acknowledged on Tuesday that reporters were pre-selected for questions during the day's briefing. This admission comes after President Donald Trump previously criticized President Joe Biden for engaging in the same practice.
During the briefing, Blanche stated, "They give you a list, guys. Everybody calm down," before calling on Caroline Downey of National Review. He noted, "I notice you guys are sweating, which is nice. I love to see that. We’ll start out with Caroline Downey from the National Review."
Trump, during his presidency, had frequently criticized Biden for what he described as taking questions from a pre-selected list. In 2023, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, "Biden calls on a specific reporter, gets a question, then reads the answer off a card. In other words, he knows the question, then reads the answer. What is going on here?"
Lara Trump, former co-chair of the Republican National Committee and the president's daughter-in-law, also voiced criticism of Biden's press briefing practices in 2021. Speaking on Fox News, she stated that the practice of pre-approved questions sent a weak signal to adversaries and made the U.S. appear "ridiculous" and "embarrassing."