President-elect Joe Biden got testy with a CBS News reporter who asked him a question on Friday about his plan to get children back into classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tense exchange took place just as Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were wrapping up a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in Wilmington, Delaware.
‘In my Oval Office, mi casa, you casa,’ Biden, who turned 78 years old on Friday, is heard telling the senior Democratic Party leaders.
At that point, a Biden aide asked the assembled gaggle of reporters to leave as the photo op concluded.
President-elect Joe Biden (right) gestures during a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in Wilmington, Delaware
Towards the end of the meeting, CBS News reporter Bo Erickson asked Biden about whether he intends to lean on teachers unions to get kids back to school during the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Why are you the only guy that always shouts out questions?’ Biden says in response. He declined to answer the question
Biden’s response was criticized on social media while Erickson (seen above) was widely praised
Erickson on Friday posted a tweet about the incident. He has been covering the Biden campaign for CBS News
Bo Erickson, a CBS News reporter who has been covering Biden and his campaign, then asked the president-elect a question.
‘Mr Biden, the COVID task force said it’s safe for children to be back in class,’ Erickson is heard saying as the other reporters are ushered out of the room.
Erickson then asks if Biden will encourage teachers unions to cooperate in returning students to classrooms.
‘Why are you the only guy that always shouts out questions?’ Biden says in response. He declined to answer the question.
The question came as teachers unions have been resistant to the idea of returning to full-fledged, in-person instruction due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
On Twitter, many were angered by Biden’s dismissive remark of Erickson, who was praised as a dogged journalist who asked a good question.
‘It’s a great question that deserves an answer from Biden,’ Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy tweeted.
‘Good for Bo, also the idea that this was a ‘shouted’ question is hilarious,’ ABC News correspondent Will Steakin tweeted.
Erickson’s CBS News colleague, White House correspondent Paula Reid, tweeted: ‘President-Elect Biden asks a good question – why is @BoKnowsNews the only one in the Biden pool tossing questions?
‘Schools, vaccines, stimulus – so many important q’s for both @SpeakerPelosi & @JoeBiden.’
‘Shouting questions will again be deemed a bad, disrespectful thing,’ The Hill media columnist Joe Concha tweeted.
‘A completely valid and important question asked in a civil tone…deflected by Biden, who may not have understood it because it wasn’t screened by staff first,’ radio host Derek Hunter tweeted.
‘Because Bo is trying to do journalism and much of the rest of Biden’s press corps are stenographers,’ journalist Zaid Jilani reacted.
‘As we see many other reporters throw softballs at Biden, reporters that ask tough questions of both sides (like Bo) are going to be far more important over the next 4 years,’ conservative writer A.G. Hamilton said.
This is the second time in a little more than a month that Biden has lost his cool in response to a question from Erickson.
Last month, the CBS News reporter asked Biden about his son Hunter’s foreign dealings.
‘A completely valid and important question asked in a civil tone…deflected by Biden, who may not have understood it because it wasn’t screened by staff first,’ radio host Derek Hunter tweeted
‘Because Bo is trying to do journalism and much of the rest of Biden’s press corps are stenographers,’ journalist Zaid Jilani reacted
‘It’s a great question that deserves an answer from Biden,’ Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy tweeted
‘Shouting questions will again be deemed a bad, disrespectful thing,’ The Hill media columnist Joe Concha tweeted
Erickson’s CBS News colleague, White House correspondent Paula Reid, tweeted: ‘President-Elect Biden asks a good question – why is @BoKnowsNews the only one in the Biden pool tossing questions?’
‘Good for Bo, also the idea that this was a ‘shouted’ question is hilarious,’ ABC News correspondent Will Steakin tweeted
‘As we see many other reporters throw softballs at Biden, reporters that ask tough questions of both sides (like Bo) are going to be far more important over the next 4 years,’ conservative writer A.G. Hamilton said
The then-candidate responded by saying he had ‘no response’ and furiously slammed Erickson.
Erickson put the question to Biden as the candidate boarded his private jet after a campaign stop in Michigan, two days after the New York Post broke the bombshell story.
‘Mr Biden, what is your response to the New York Post story about your son, sir?’ Erickson asked.
‘I know you’d ask it,’ Biden replied heatedly, wearing two masks.
‘I have no response, it’s another smear campaign, right up your alley, those are the questions you always ask.’
Many media figures were criticized for not asking Biden about the Post story.
Biden’s campaign previously responded to the Post report with a statement saying ‘Joe Biden carried out official US policy toward Ukraine and engaged in no wrongdoing.’
Last month, Biden responded furiously when Erickson asked him about emails revealing his son’s foreign dealings
‘I know you’d ask it,’ Biden replied heatedly, wearing two masks. ‘I have no response, it’s another smear campaign, right up your alley, those are the questions you always ask’
‘Mr. Biden, what is your response to the New York Post story about your son, sir?’ CBS News reporter Erickson asked
Hunter’s emails were provided by Rudy Giuliani to the New York Post after a computer repair store owner said he’d found them on a hard drive.
The store owner said a man who he was unable to identify brought three computers into his store for repair last fall and never picked them up. He said he then made a copy of the emails and images on the hard drives, and provided them to the FBI and to Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer.
The emails suggest that Biden, who has always denied knowledge or involvement in his son’s business dealings, was more deeply involved than he has previously admitted.
Twitter added to the controversy when it blocked links to Post articles about the revelations, a decision the social media platform later backtracked.
During Friday’s closed-door portion of the meeting, Pelosi presented Biden with a white orchid, one of her signature flowers, an aide said, as he celebrated his birthday.
At 78, it means Biden will be sworn in as the oldest president in the nation’s history, displacing Ronald Reagan, who left the White House in 1989 when he was 77 years and 349 days old.
The age and health of both Biden and President Donald Trump — less than four years Biden’s junior — loomed throughout a race that was decided by a younger and more diverse electorate and at a moment when the nation is facing no shortage of issues of consequence.
Throughout the campaign, Trump, 74, didn’t miss a chance to highlight Biden’s gaffes and argue that the Democrat lacked the mental acuity to lead the nation.
Both critics and some backers of Biden worried that he was sending the wrong message about his stamina by keeping a relatively light public schedule while Trump barnstormed battleground states.
Biden attributed his light schedule to being cautious during the coronavirus pandemic.
The campaign had also made the case that Biden isn’t your average septuagenarian.
His physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor, in a medical report released by the campaign last December, described Biden as ‘healthy, vigorous … fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief.’