President Biden pleads the Fourth (of July) in cutting of reporter’s questions
July 6, 2021
President Biden who has shown flashes of a short temper with reporters when they ask questions he can’t answer got a bit snippy again on Friday using the upcoming Fourth of July holiday as an excuse to stop taking questions about Afghanistan.
As American troops leave Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan after twenty years questions remain about what will happen without a U.S. military presence.
After Biden called on a reporter Friday morning who wanted to ask about Afghanistan the president responded “I want to know about happy things, man.” The reporter ignored Biden’s request and asked whether the U.S. would still have the military capability of aiding Kabul against threats by the Taliban on short notice.
Biden responded that the U.S. could offer “value-added,” but that the Afghans “are going to have to do it themselves.”
Another reporter tried to follow up by shouting that she also had a related question, but Biden interjected saying that “I’m not going to answer anymore quick questions about Afghanistan. Look, it’s Fourth of July. I’m concerned that you guys are asking me questions that I’ll answer next week, but this is a holiday weekend, and I’m going to celebrate it. There are great things happening.”
We will have to see if Biden does indeed answer these questions this week as he promised or will that be “last week’s news” and time to move on once again avoiding the difficult questions.