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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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The White House defended the "cheat sheet" President Joe Biden was seen holding while speaking to the press from the Rose Garden on Wednesday as regular protocol and in line with the press office's job to "get a sense" of what the media wants to ask him.
"It is entirely normal for a president to be briefed on reporters who will be asking questions at a press conference, and issues that we expect they might ask about," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during her daily briefing on Thursday.
"It is not surprising that yesterday we would anticipate questions that he did receive on the visit with the South Korean president...or about 2024, that was completely expected, or about the debt ceiling which he took questions at the end," Jean-Pierre told reporters. "I would point out that the question that was asked was different than what was on the card that you all saw."
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On Wednesday, photographers at the White House captured photos that showed Biden holding a small paper that suggested the president is given notice of the questions that members of the press will ask him during his media engagements.
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The pocket card showed a photo of a journalist with the Los Angeles Times (LAT) along with the pronunciation of her last name under "Question #1." The question Biden held read, "How are YOU squaring YOUR domestic priorities—like reshoring semiconductors manufacturing—with alliance-based foreign policy?"
The reporter, who was called first during the question period after Biden's press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, asked: "Your top economic priority has been to build up U.S. domestic manufacturing in competition with China, but your rules against expanding chip manufacturing in China is hurting South Korean companies that rely heavily on Beijing. Are you damaging a key ally in the competition with China to help your domestic politics ahead of the election?"
The "cheat sheet" sparked ethics questions and drew criticism from Republicans, who used the pocket card to argue that certain news organizations were working alongside the Biden White House to help the president control his media image.
On Thursday, Jean-Pierre said the questions that Biden is briefed on are based on the questions she receives daily during her own press briefings.
"Our job is to get a sense of what you all want to ask him," she told reporters. "We want to make sure that we're providing information that's helpful to you and the American people."
Jean-Pierre also shut down speculation that members of the press are asked to provide questions beforehand and explained how the White House chooses which reporters to call on.
"We do not have specific questions in advance. That's not something that we do," she said.
She said that before press conferences featuring the president, the White House reaches out to a number of reporters who they know will be in attendance before deciding who has not been called on to ask a question "in some time."
Jean-Pierre added that the White House was "mindful" about picking a Los Angeles Times journalist because California has the largest Korean American population in the nation and the majority live in Los Angeles, where the Times is the largest daily paper.
"We thought it was pretty reasonable, as we had the South Korean president with us during this press conference, because we also wanted to communicate with Korean Americans," she said.
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