WASHINGTON – Two radio hosts said Saturday that aides to President Joe Biden had given him questions to ask in recent interviews.
This move, which lacked standard journalistic experience, came as the Biden campaign did was working on damage control after a widely criticized debate performance.
“The questions were sent to me for approval,” said Andrea Lawful-Sanders, host of WURD’s “The Source” in Philadelphia. CNN interview.
“I have a few questions. Eight of them,” he told CNN anchor Victor Blackwell, noting that the anchors’ questions to the president were similar. “And the chosen four were the ones I approved.”
Another host who interviewed Biden, WAUK’s Earl Ingram was part of the same CNN panel and did not dispute Lawful-Sanders’ description of how the questions were chosen. He did not provide his account to CNN, but later did ABC News he was “asked some questions for Biden.”
NBC News reached out to Civic Media, the platform for Ingram’s show, to confirm his comments.
During interview With Ingram on the air in full on Thursday, Biden told listeners he had “had a bad night,” adding that he was “flustered, I made a mistake.” The president also delivered a 90-minute debate performance different from his 3.5 years in office.
Biden appeared at several events in the week following the debate, though many of the speeches centered on his use of a teleprompter, which is often standard for politicians.
But the debate raised questions about Biden’s ability to think on his feet, and the Biden campaign pointed to his public appearances, including interviews, to deflect criticism.
Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for the Biden campaign, said in a statement that it was “not an unusual practice for interviewees to share their preferred topics.” “Americans have had several opportunities to see him unscripted since the debate,” he said, pointing to Biden’s presence at the press conference and in an interview with ABC News on Friday.
“We don’t condition interviews to accept these questions, and presenters are always free to ask questions they think will best inform their audience,” Hitt said.