‘The View’ — surprise, surprise — vigorously defends Biden White House’s desire to get reporters’ questions in advance

 
by DAVE URBANSKI

It will come as no surprise that nearly all the co-hosts of “The View” vigorously defended the jaw-dropping recent request from President Joe Biden’s communication team to get reporters’ questions in advance of daily press briefings.

What are the details?

It seemed like a big joke to co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who chuckled several times as she opened the discussion on Wednesday’s show and bristled that journalists were “raising red flags about the [chuckle] Biden administration’s promise of total transparency.” She then asked, “Does it occur to anybody they’ve been in probably for three weeks, and they might not [laughs] … have all the answers yet? Call me crazy.”

Co-host Joy Behar naturally concluded the concern from the media is bogus: “First of all, let’s talk about whether they’re actual, specific questions or areas of discussion, and, you know, this type of press conference is not supposed to be gotcha questions; they’re supposed to be informative, information questions and answers — and so it behooves the administration to be prepared to give the correct information.”

Behar added that White House press secretary Jen Psaki “can’t know everything, you know?” and that “the reporters are quite aware of when someone is spinning and when they’re not, and that they would call her out on that, and this administration is very well prepared to say the truth, whereas the last one would just lie and spin and whatever. But you know … I just think that it’s not a gotcha session. That’s what has to be understood.”

Co-host Sara Haines also said the Biden White House’s request for questions in advance wasn’t a concern, emphasizing that it would be “if there was some kind of consequential outcome” for reporters who don’t provide advance questions. She added that “this happens in every administration, and it’s just part of the game.”

While co-host Sunny Hostin said she didn’t like the request for questions in advance, she managed to go on a lengthy breakdown about why it’s actually no big deal since President Donald Trump is finally out of office.

“Let’s face it. I mean, this is a world of difference from what we were dealing with before,” she said. “The last administration was not transparent. It was opaque at the very best. … We’re coming from the Mooch [Anthony Scaramucci], Sarah Huckabee [Sanders], and Kayleigh McEnany! The liar-in-chief … press secretary! So we’re in a whole new world, and so, you know, if the Biden administration has given us — .”

Hostin wasn’t quite able to finish her thought and just settled for, “I think it’s just a breath of fresh air, so the fact that they’re asking for topic areas or even questions, I still think we’re in a much better place in terms of transparency. And isn’t that what we want … from our government?”

But Meghan McCain isn’t having it

As you might expect, co-host Meghan McCain differed from the rest of the panel.

“I’m a Republican,” she began, noting that the idea of the White House asking reporters for questions in advance is “highly un-kosher” and “highly unorthodox.”

“Maybe we are all living in different worlds,” McCain continued, “but I have worked on campaigns, I’ve been around many politicians, I’ve helped politicians — [but] I’ve never once been in a situation where I said, ‘Hey, you as a journalist, can you give me this question for the principal in advance?’ That’s not how it works.”

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