President Joe Biden once again veered away from his pre-approved list of reporters, this time answering a question about abortion rights that he immediately admitted he regretted answering.
Following a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden held a press conference where he took questions from a list of reporters that had been pre-approved by unidentified officials within the White House.
The Daily Caller pressed the White House about why the president is given a list of pre-approved reporters, and what qualifications are used to determine which reporters make it onto the list. The White House refused to give an answer.
'Not Sharing': White House Refuses To Say Why Biden Has A 'List' Of Reporters
"Eh, not sharing. I don't have anything to share with you on that," Olivia Dalton, White House principal deputy press secretary told @DailyCaller.https://t.co/JPkmZcFPBj
— Diana Glebova (@DianaGlebova) November 10, 2022
When taking questions at the press conference, Biden outright admitted that he was “told there are going to be four questioners.”
Despite the fact that he was not on the list, NBC News’s Peter Alexander still shouted a question at the president — and Biden answered.
“Mr. President, what should Americans expect from Congress as it relates to abortion rights after the midterms?” Alexander asked.
The president’s answer was revealing. In spite of all of his rhetoric surrounding the importance of Congress codifying abortion rights into federal law following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Biden essentially said that Americans can expect nothing from lawmakers on the issue.
“I don’t think they can expect much of anything other than we’re going to maintain our positions,” he told the reporter.
Biden appeared to realize that he had made a mistake, immediately expressing regret for even answering the question from the unapproved reporter.
“I’m not going to get into more questions. I shouldn’t even have answered your question,” the president said.
Despite acknowledging his regret, Biden went on to elaborate as to why he believes that nothing will happen in Congress regarding abortion — citing the lack of votes in the House on the issue, considering the Republicans’ projected majority.
“I don’t think there’s enough votes to codify, unless something unusual happens in the House,” the president said. “I think we’re going to get very close in the House. I think it’s going to be very close, but I don’t think we’re going to make it.”
Biden vowed last month that codifying abortion rights would be his number one priority if Democrats retained control of Congress in the midterm elections.
“Here is the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill that I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade,” he said.
With Republicans projected to take control of the House, any of the Democrats’ pro-abortion legislation wouldn’t make it very far. Though the Republicans have not managed to gain a majority in the Senate, they still have the ability to filibuster in the Senate and will cause problems for Biden’s agenda in that chamber as well.
