{"id":1098,"date":"2026-09-26T23:45:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T23:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/?p=1098"},"modified":"2026-09-26T23:45:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T23:45:47","slug":"leavitt-sets-media-straight-with-fact-check-on-joe-biden-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/?p=1098","title":{"rendered":"Leavitt Sets Media Straight With Fact-Check On Joe Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014<\/strong> White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the Trump administration\u2019s changes to White House media access, arguing that the new approach is intended to expand access to a wider range of news organizations and journalists.<\/p>\n

Speaking at an Axios event hosted by co-founder Mike Allen, Leavitt addressed questions about the administration\u2019s decision to change how outlets are selected for the White House press pool. Allen raised concerns about whether limiting access for established outlets, including the Associated Press, could affect the historical record of the presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have curtailed access to the Associated Press, which reaches half the world\u2019s population every day. The most definitive photo of President Trump \u2014 the \u2018Fight, Fight, Fight\u2019 photo after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania \u2014 was made by Evan Vucci, who is the chief photographer in Washington for the Associated Press. Do you worry about history being lost with these new restrictions?\u201d Allen asked.<\/p>\n

Leavitt rejected the characterization of the changes as restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t view them as restrictions. We view them as opening access to more outlets, more voices, more news, journalists and outlets,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n

She argued that a small number of established organizations should not have exclusive access to the White House briefing room or the 13-member press pool that covers the president\u2019s movements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have a few outlets who have a monopoly over the briefing room or over that 13-person press pool that covers the president,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cAnd so we\u2019ve actually ensured that more print outlets like Axios have a greater chance of being part of that 13-person press pool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leavitt said thousands of outlets have White House press credentials, while hundreds regularly cover the administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are thousands of outlets who have White House press credentials. There are hundreds that actually show up every day and cover the beat,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy should a single outlet have the privilege of being in that 13-person press pool every single day?\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Leavitt, the administration\u2019s changes are intended to provide greater access to a broader range of media organizations and journalists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve actually created more transparency, more accessibility, and greater access for a broad variety of outlets and a diversity of journalists,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Leavitt also argued that the administration\u2019s approach has not prevented the public from receiving information about the president\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, we started this. I think you\u2019re all still getting your news, right? You\u2019re still hearing about what the administration is doing every single day, because we have good journalists who are in that room covering the president every single time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Leavitt later criticized the role of the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association in determining press access.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that a small group of journalists who comprise the board of the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association should not dictate who gets to go into the Oval Office and who gets to ride on Air Force One,\u201d she said. \u201cThere should be equal access for all outlets.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that the administration has continued to allow a wide range of media organizations to participate, despite political differences.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if we were trying, by the way, to create positive press for the president, if we were trying to make it easier on him or on the administration, we wouldn\u2019t allow some of these fake news leftist outlets in,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cBut we continue to do that. No one has been restricted. We\u2019ve just given more spots to more outlets and more voices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leavitt concluded by saying the administration\u2019s media strategy is focused on expanding the number and variety of outlets with access to the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about ideology. It\u2019s just about increasing the wide variety of outlets that have access,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we live in a digital age, and we\u2019re recognizing that at the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also pointed to Trump\u2019s unconventional approach to media during his 2024 presidential campaign, saying the administration wanted to continue that approach after his return to the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president ran a nontraditional media campaign, which propelled him back to the highest office in the land. And we felt it was our responsibility to continue that in our coverage at the White House,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n

Axios Report on Biden\u2019s Media Engagement<\/h3>\n

The discussion also touched on Axios\u2019 previous reporting about former President Joe Biden\u2019s media engagement.<\/p>\n

In July 2024, Axios published an analysis titled \u201cInside Biden\u2019s media evasion,\u201d<\/strong> based on data compiled by presidential scholar Martha Joynt Kumar. The analysis found that, as of June 30, 2024, Biden had participated in 164 press conferences and media interviews, compared with 468 for Trump at the same point in Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n

The same Axios analysis reported that Biden had participated in 36 press conferences and 125 media interviews by that point. It also noted that Biden had engaged extensively in less formal question-and-answer sessions with smaller groups of reporters, a category in which he was second only to Trump among the recent presidents examined.<\/p>\n

Axios\u2019 analysis therefore documented a significant difference in the number of formal press conferences and media interviews involving Biden compared with several of his recent predecessors, while also noting that the broader picture included Biden\u2019s frequent informal interactions with reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the Trump administration\u2019s changes to White House media access, arguing that the new approach is intended to expand access to a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1100,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098\/revisions\/1100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpdaily.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}