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During an interview in early December, MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle recalled how President Joe Biden’s team reacted to a question about his son, Hunter Biden.
Since before Biden’s 2020 victory, he has been plagued by media stories of his son’s misadventures. It took a concerted effort to attempt to discredit the scandalous laptop that threatened to derail Biden’s electoral bid against President-elect Donald Trump, and apparently that effort continued well into his presidency.
In May 2023, Ruhle says Biden’s team attempted to shut down an interview immediately after he was asked about the effect Hunter’s indictment may have on him. This question was not appreciated by the president’s aides.
“In the way of traditional media, the White House runs the show. When I interviewed President Biden, they gave me 10 minutes, OK? A politician can knock out one answer in 15 minutes,” Ruhle said. “At minute 9.5, I asked the president, ‘Your son, Hunter, might be indicted by your Department of Justice, how will this impact your presidency?’”
“A completely reasonable question. As soon as I said those words, President Biden’s team waved in front of the camera, started screaming and yelling, and stopped the interview,” the host revealed. “Now that immediately went on, that’s public record, that was in the transcript, that became its own story, and then they punished us.”
During the airing of the interview, Biden could be heard responding: “First of all, my son has done nothing wrong. I trust him. I have faith in him. It impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him.”
What was not heard was the crosstalk and panic from behind the scenes. However, footage showed another attempt to end the interview after Ruhle asked Biden about the rise in hate crimes, gun violence, etc. Biden himself ended that by raising his hand and responding to the question by pointing fingers at the press.
“All they’ve heard is negative news for three years. Everything is negative,” the president said. “I’m not being critical of the press, but you turn on the television – the only way you’re going to get a hit is if there’s something negative, you know. You don’t – anyway, that’s number one.”
In the same interview, Ruhle praised Trump for being so available to the press even though he turned down her request for a sit-down.
“I rolled the dice and I called him on the phone and he answered… I wasn’t calling to chit-chat. I said, ‘Mr. President, this is Stephanie Ruhle, you made a lot of comments last night,’ blah-blah-blah. It was not an on-the-record conversation, so I’m not going to get into what he said. But I called for one reason. I said, ‘You just said a whole bunch of public things. I’d like to sit down for an interview with you. We’ve got five days before the election.’ So we didn’t get anything, there’s nothing for me to report. I called, I said I want an interview. Obviously, he said no,” she said.
“But my point is, I was able to get to him by dialing his phone,” Ruhle marveled. “Now that might be completely apeshit and you’re like, ‘I can’t believe people know this guy’s phone number,’ but the reverse of that, if I were to want to connect with VP Harris or President Biden, there’s 50 people between me and that. I could write a note that maybe could get to somebody to get somebody, then through Pony Express and a pigeon something might end up in a mailbox near them.”
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle praises Trump’s response for an interview: ‘He told me to go f*ck myself,’ but… https://t.co/sAGcX5mLsR via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) December 17, 2024
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