Come On! Biden Cant Keep Straight Face As Reporters Shout Questions About Cocaine During Oval Office Spray
President Joe Biden couldn’t keep a straight face as reporters shouted questions about cocaine during a photo op in the Oval Office.
The Secret Service discovered a suspicious powder Sunday night, initial testing of which indicated the substance was cocaine. Critics of President Biden immediately pounced on the news to suggest his son was to blame and to mock his struggle with addiction.
On Tuesday morning, a full lab panel confirmed the preliminary test that identified the substance as cocaine, and coverage of the discovery dominated news coverage on a typically slow July 5 news day.
Those were the conditions under which the president welcomed Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden for a meeting in the Oval Office that was covered by the White House press pool and the foreign travel pool.
After each leader made brief remarks, the pool began shouting questions for a full minute, and while the subject matter is difficult to distinguish from the video, pool reports confirm the subject of the cocaine did come up, and Biden can be seen mouthing the words “Come on!”:
President Biden’s bilat with Swedish PM Kristersson started at 2:09 pm.
Biden called Sweden a “valued friend and partner” and said he is “anxiously looking forward to your membership” in NATO.
Kristersson thanked Biden for the invitation and said Sweden “highly appreciates” Biden’s support for NATO membership.
Reporters were ushered out after about 3 mins. Biden smiled but did not respond to several questions including one from your pooler about whether Zelenskyy should attend the NATO summit.
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When the pool entered the Oval Office, POTUS and Kristersson were already seated next to each other.
Kristersson thanked POTUS for “the kind invitation” to the White House which would be “highly welcomed”.
He said: “Sweden and the US share so many values and priorities since ling but not least right now. That goes for handling the war in Ukraine.” He thanked POTUS für “leadership and the transatlantic unity” that he established.
Kristersson mentioned as examples the climate crisis and “the challenges that China creates for democracies.”
He also thanked for “the strong support for Sweden’s NATO accession. “We also do think that we have things to contribute.”
Neither leader took questions from the pool that were shouted.
Please check the quotes against the transcript.
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A few add-ons from my earlier report.
President Biden appeared to say “very important” when asked about the significance of Sweden joining NATO.
A reporter shouted a question about the cocaine found Sunday in the White House. Biden did not respond to that question.
President Biden also did not respond to repeated shouted questions about reports of a possible prisoner swap with Russia in exchange for jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Watch above via ABC News.
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