Worthy Christian News > US News > Angry Biden Leaves Press Meeting Over China

Angry Biden Leaves Press Meeting Over China

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – U.S. President Joe Biden, trying to laugh off his anger, left a press meeting Thursday after being asked if his ability to deal with China was “compromised” by his family’s business interests.

He complained that reporters were not being “polite” and told them to “give me a break” before storming out of the meeting.

The incident came amid allegations that Biden can’t confront China on issues such as the recent suspected spy balloon over the U.S. to fentanyl imports and COVID-19 origins due to his family’s business relations in China.

“Is your ability to deal with China compromised by your family’s business relationships in China, President Biden?” a reporter for the New York Post was heard shouting at the president.

At least four other reporters shouted questions at the president, who had not faced the press for nearly six days, but Biden chose to answer only The Post’s query.

“Give me a break, man,” Biden said with a dismissive laugh. Two American television journalists and reporters for Polish and Japanese outlets proceeded to pepper Biden with a cacophony of competing questions.

But tensions further rose when with The New York Post belatedly added: “Does your son still co-own a company with Chinese government entities?”

DISDAINFUL HAND

The 80-year-old Biden said, with what some called “a disdainful hand gesture” toward the reporter: “You can come to my office and ask a question when you have more polite people with you.”

Soon after, he walked out of the gathering with reporters. The question came as records showed the Biden family had two significant relationships with Chinese state-linked companies. In each instance, current President Joe Biden allegedly was directly involved.

Published business records suggest first son Hunter Biden still owns a 10 percent stake in Chinese state-backed investment firm BHR Partners.

His involvement in the firm, which reportedly manages $2.1 billion in assets, comes despite his father’s insistence there would be no family-business-related conflicts of interest during the Biden presidency.

That raised questions among U.S. Republican lawmakers, including Representative Bob Good. “When you look at the Biden balloon that came across the country for a week, and you look at how he changed from calling China ‘an adversary’ and confronting China, as President Trump did, to calling China ‘a partner’ and ‘a competitor’ — how much has that been influenced by the Biden family’s corrupt business deals?” Good wondered.

However, following the chaotic end of Thursday’s press conference at the White House, Biden later tried in an interview with NBC News television to convince viewers about his tough stance on China. “I think the last thing that [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping] wants is to fundamentally rip the relationship with the United States and with me,” Biden said about the suspected spy balloon incident.

Thursday’s challenging exchange with reporters wasn’t an isolated incident. In a September 2021 Oval Office meeting with the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, Biden told Modi that “the Indian press is much better behaved than the American press.”

REPORTERS QUESTIONS

He then suggested they not take any questions from reporters “because they won’t ask any questions on point.” Biden has long expressed disapproval of the White House press corps’ behavior.

In a September 2021 Oval Office meeting with the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, Biden told Modi that “the Indian press is much better behaved than the American press.” He then suggested they not take any questions from reporters “because they won’t ask any questions on point.”

Reporters also recalled how Biden, in that same month, during a meeting with the then-British prime minister Boris Johnson, wished Johnson “good luck” when he asked to take questions from reporters.

After two British reporters asked questions, White House staff reportedly cut Johnson off mid-sentence and ordered the press to leave the room. No American reporters were allowed to ask questions.

Last year, Biden was caught insulting Fox News reporter Peter Doocy for asking if he believed inflation was a “political liability” in the midterms. “That’s a great asset — more inflation,” Biden responded on a hot mic. “What a stupid son of a b****.” President Biden later called Doocy and apologized for the remark.

While several media outlets were initially seen as pro-Biden by critics, the White House press corps has more recently pushed back on the Biden administration’s treatment of them. They openly questioned the perceived mysterious pre-screening of reporters allowed into large presidential events.

Those restrictions began during the COVID-19 pandemic but have lingered long after masking, testing, and social distancing rules ended. Critics perceive the measures as an unsubtle way of shaping the variety of questions presented to the president, who has sometimes stumbled through sentences.