On February 20, 2025, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke to reporters during a press briefing in Washington, D.C. She shared a striking comparison between President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden in terms of their engagement with the media.
Leavitt pointed out that President Trump has been very open to taking questions from the press, often multiple times a day on various topics. She highlighted that in his first few hours in office, Trump answered more than 12 times the number of questions Biden did in his entire first week as president.
A memorable moment from Trump’s second-term inauguration on January 20 was him signing several executive orders while answering reporters’ questions.
In contrast, a July 2024 report by Axios titled “Biden’s media evasion” noted that Biden had fewer press conferences and media interviews than any of the last seven presidents at the same stage of their presidency. By that time, Biden had done 164 interviews, compared to Trump’s 468. The next lowest was George W. Bush with 248 and Ronald Reagan with 262.
Additionally, in August 2023, *The Daily Signal* reported that the number of reporters with access to the White House had dropped by 31% over three months, leaving 442 fewer journalists with a “hard pass” due to new rules introduced in May.
During the briefing, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller criticized reporters for not addressing Biden’s lack of engagement more directly. He suggested that many in the media failed to report on Biden’s mental competence and his ability to lead the country during his presidency.
