Did a White House reporter leak Biden’s secrets?

“Clearly, Washington’s best journalists have failed to fulfill a journalist’s first duty: to hold power accountable.”

It wasn’t Republican lawmakers, commentators or Fox News. It was former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson who issued a scathing indictment of the news media, accusing them of allowing the Biden White House to engage in a “massive cover-up” of President Joe Biden’s declining competence and, on the news site Semafor, accusing them of failing to lift the “veil of secrecy surrounding the president.”

But reporting on things like the president’s mental health isn’t as easy as outsiders or even insiders imagine. Traditional news outlets like the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Washington Post have documented Biden’s physical decline and expressed concerns about his age and mental acuity — including the Monitor. But the press has also struggled with limited access to the president and layers of denial from the administration, which makes it difficult to translate personal observations and private rumors into reportable facts.

“You can’t act on suspicion,” said Martha Joynt Kumar, a longtime presidential scholar who has documented his encounters with the media. “What you really need is hard information.”

“Clearly, Washington’s best journalists have failed to fulfill a journalist’s first duty: to hold power accountable.”

This isn’t Republican lawmakers, commentators or Fox News. This is a scathing indictment of the news media by former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, accusing them of allowing the Biden White House to engage in a “massive cover-up” of President Joe Biden’s declining competence. “Shame on the White House press corps” for failing to lift the “veil of secrecy surrounding the president,” she said. She wrote on news website Semafor.

But reporting on the president’s mental health isn’t as easy as outsiders might think, or even insiders might think. Traditional news outlets like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post have been slow to respond. All recorded Biden’s declining health has raised concerns about his age and mental abilities. Monitors includeBut the press corps has also been struggling with limited access to the president and layers of denial by the administration and its surrogates, making it difficult to transform personal observations and private rumors into spears of reportable fact strong enough to pierce the veil.

“You can’t act on suspicion,” said Martha Joynt Kumar, a longtime presidential scholar who has documented his encounters with the media. “What you really need is hard information.”

Press conference: Biden 37 points, Trump 99 points

Journalists say it is particularly difficult to get this information out of the White House. Like other presidents, Mr. Biden delivers most of his verbal messages from a teleprompter. But as far as his presidency is concerned, he has lagged far behind his predecessors in terms of unscripted news conferences and one-on-one interviews with reporters. Thursday’s news conference after a NATO summit in Washington was his 37th.

By comparison, the top five presidents were Donald Trump (99), Barack Obama (73), George W. Bush (82), Bill Clinton (127) and George H.W. Bush (135), according to Ms. Kumar’s count.

President Ronald Reagan made fewer appearances — 25 — but they were all solo and often lengthy, while only about a third of Biden’s appearances were solo. On Thursday, the president answered questions alone for more than 50 minutes. He made some notable mistakes — calling Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump,” as he did earlier in the day when he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin,” then immediately corrected himself. But he also demonstrated a strong command of foreign policy, giving deep, nuanced answers.

President Biden has also given far fewer interviews than other presidents, though pressure has been growing on him to do so since his dismal debate performance on June 27. NBC’s Lester Holt will sit down with the president for an interview on Monday, the first day of the Republican nominating convention.

The White House noted that President Biden has had hundreds of informal, unscheduled interactions with reporters. In fact, Biden ranks higher on Ms. Kumar’s scale than every other president except Mr. Trump, who has been willing to talk to reporters despite his attacks on media organizations.

Why journalists were ‘shocked’ by the debate, too

Meanwhile, Biden’s informal question-and-answer sessions often took place in loud places — as he walked toward or away from his helicopter as it whizzed by or as he stood beneath the roar of the engines of Air Force One, reporters shouted questions from a distance. They were hard to hear, and some responses were single-word.

“Reporters have long asked for more daily interviews and to be in the same room with the president,” said a senior White House reporter. The reporter said the lack of pre-arranged interviews made it harder for the press corps to assess Biden’s abilities. He added: “Most people I spoke to were shocked by what happened on debate night.”

Members of the White House press corps specifically noted the difference between reporting on the president’s physical condition, such as Biden’s gait, and more subjective health issues, including mental health. Reporters will gradually see changes and worry about being accused of ageism. “This is not a black and white issue,” said another senior White House reporter.

Meanwhile, according to the first reporter, “there are no concerns expressed by people inside the Biden White House about his strength or performance.” Instead, administration officials have frequently insisted in response to media inquiries that the president is fully engaged and in control.

They dismissed independent counsel Robert Hull’s characterization of the president as a “well-meaning old man with a short memory” and argued that it was a Republican assassination. Out of touch with realityAsked about verbal gaffes, advisers pointed to the president’s stutter, which he has struggled with since childhood.“None of us is in a position to scrutinize the president or measure anything other than the time we spend with him,” the reporter said.

Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Reagan, and Trump

Other White House officials have also been coy about the president’s health, from Franklin Roosevelt before the last election to John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan and the extent of his illness after he was shot. Although Reagan was not diagnosed with Alzheimer’s until five years after leaving office, a 1984 debate with Democrat Walter Mondale raised concerns about his mental health. But Reagan dismissed those concerns with a joke in the next debate: “I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I will not exploit the youth and inexperience of my opponent for political purposes.”

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and a communications expert, said the move sidelined the issue and deprived the media of high-profile attention. “The media didn’t do their job.”

Trump, by contrast, has been questioned about his fitness for office, with many insiders revealing their concerns about his mental state in books and articles. He has boasted about his aces on cognitive tests. Screening Tests 2020his personal doctor described his cognitive examination last year as “exceptional” but did not say when or what it was.

President Biden has called his daily work a cognitive test, pointing to his policy record. Indeed, while the White House has restricted media access to the president, policy experts are everywhere in the administration, Ms. Jamieson said. However, she said, “When you have questions about mental acuity, those questions can’t be answered by looking at the success of the policies articulated by all members of the team.”

Liberal bias?

One charge the media has faced is liberal bias, with allegations that journalists are reluctant to delve too deeply into Mr. Biden’s health for fear it could help Mr. Trump get elected — a point made by Ms. Abramson, the former New York Times editor.

Asked if liberal bias influenced the White House press corps’ investigation into the president’s fitness for the job, the first reporter was adamant: Absolutely not. “The factor that was so important to cover was the stories reporters wanted to pursue. For years, we had asked about his health and age — and the reporting we received and the comments from his team refuted that.”

This week, frustration with the lack of information grew, leading CBS News to Reporter shouts White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was criticized during Monday’s briefing for not answering questions about the president’s health or about visitor records that show a neurologist regularly visits the White House. Later that evening, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor issue a statement Stating that the president has not seen a neurologist “other than for his annual physical,” the commission noted that neurologists regularly visit the White House Medical Unit to support active duty military personnel assigned to White House operations.

Despite his foot, ankle and spine-related problems that affect his gait, the president remains a “healthy, active, strong 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully perform the duties of the presidency,” Dr. O’Connor wrote in his February 28 Annual Summary He has already been examined by a neurologist this year, and he has been examined by a neurologist every year during his presidency. At the NATO press conference, President Biden reiterated that his doctors have not asked him to undergo another neurological examination, but he would undergo one if his doctors asked.

Reporters have little official information to go on other than the annual health report. Even when Biden ran for president in 1988, his speeches were “a mix of great speeches and stupid remarks,” said the longtime White House reporter. “Twenty-five years later, it’s hard to tell if a vague remark is Joe’s nature or a sign of some kind of aging.”

Looking back, the journalist said there is more to worry about in 2023. “But journalists are always wary of reporting on mental illness,” including members of Congress, the journalist said. “We don’t feel qualified to write about this kind of thing.”