President Joe Biden might end up walking city streets with locals on his visit to Northern Ireland and Ireland – but he won’t give a formal news conference, the White House confirmed en route.
‘There will not be a press conference on this trip,’ said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre while traveling with the president aboard Air Force One.
She was asked whether the White House had changed its plans, after reporters had spent days trying to get a definitive answer on whether he would hold such a formal availability.
One reason for the pressure, aside from Biden not having done one in weeks, is the hybrid nature of the trip. Jean-Pierre acknowledged that it is both an official trip for the president but also a personal journey back to his ancestral homeland for the first time as president.
‘The President is very much looking forward to this trip, for a personal reason, but also work reasons,’ she said. (On the professional side, Biden will speak about the 25th anniversary of the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement.
We are family: Biden was joined on Air Force One by his son Hunter Biden and his sister Valerie Biden Owens. He won’t hold a press conference during his trip to Northern Ireland and Ireland
Highlighting the personal aspects was the people Biden brought in tow – not to mention the itinerary. He was accompanied by Sister Valerie Biden Owens and son Hunter Biden. Biden’s prior trip to Ireland, as vice president in 2016, also included a gaggle of Bidens.
One question Biden is likely to get frequently is: Do you remember me? The president plans to meet with an assemblage of descendants of the Finnegans from the eastern county of Louth and the Blewitts from the western county of Mayo. He connected with many of them on a 2016 trip when he was vice president. Some are third cousins or even more distantly related. Some have pictures memorializing the last time he was here.
Jean-Pierre kept her cards close when questioned about which immediate family members would be with the president on the trip – only confirming the pair after they had already been pictured boarding the plane.
‘I can confirm that his sister Valerie Biden, Owens is traveling I can confirm that Hunter Biden is traveling as well,’ she said. It was not immediately clear if other family members would be joining.
Although Jean-Pierre might not have had the answer reporters were looking for when asked about a press conference, she did come armed with information.
‘The President is very much looking forward to this trip, for a personal reason, but also work reasons,’ said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
Follow-up questions. Aoibhinn Brennan (12), and her dad Shane, from Lordship, Co. Louth, outside Fitzpatrick’s Pub & Restaurant in Jenkinstown, Co Louth, where as a five-year-old she and her dad met then Vice-President Biden during his visit in 2016
Brick wall: The White House finally said definitively the president would not hold a news conference on the trip. Biden will, however, visit Carlingford Castle in Ireland
The White House was circumspect about disclosing which Bidens will be on the trip
‘Look, as you know the President regularly takes questions from the press informally as well at different locations, in different formats,’ she said, referencing the times Biden takes shouted questions or speaks briefly to reporters when traveling or leaving events.
‘Right before he got on Air Force One he took about five very newsy questions for all of you, which I think was very important for all of you and also for the American people to hear from him directly on.
‘I told I mentioned all of you yesterday that we actually had some some data to share. It’s more than President Trump. It’s more than Obama combined. We’re happy to share that I’m just letting you know. So it’s more than President Trump and Obama combined, or President Obama and George W. Bush. And here you go. To your question, he has answered over 320 questions, and that’s not even including more more formal press conference and interviews,’ she said.
When Biden met with President Alberto Fernández of Argentina at the White House last month, he did not hold a ‘two and two’ press conference that might allow for a few questions from each side.
When she got asked on Monday whether Biden would hold a press conference, Jean-Pierre tried to put some of the blame on the hosts.
‘So when it comes to two-plus-twos or anything like that, clearly that is not just on us, that is also on the country that we’re visiting,’ she said. ‘But as far as a standalone press conference, I just don’t have anything to share at this time.’
Biden held a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa last month. According to Mark Knoller of CBS, it was his 11th with a foreign leader.
He has done a dozen solo press conferences as president.