Harkening back to the days of his campaign, President Joe Biden has noticeably chosen to forego the scrutiny of television interviews within the past several weeks.
According to a Fox News report, Biden has not done a sit-down interview since he sat down with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos to answer questions about his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan — which was approximately six weeks ago. Biden has maintained a relatively a low profile on the subject, as fallout from the Taliban takeover continues. Pentagon leaders testified about the withdrawal in front of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, and he has yet to comment on the content of the hearing.
“Whether the White House has done this intentionally or not, I will not wager, but the person missing from this entire discussion is the commander in chief,” Fox News’ Bill Hemmer said during The Story with Martha MacCallum this week.
Stephanopoulos reportedly asked Biden 34 questions during the interview, which happened before 13 U.S. servicemembers were killed in the Kabul airport suicide bombing. Hemmer cited a Fox News report, which found that Biden has only taken 34 questions total since that time.
In a tweet on Wednesday, GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said former President Donald Trump had done more than 50 sit-down interviews by this point in his presidency.
“Biden has only done 7, and only 1 in the last 139 days,” she said.
Biden’s poll numbers have dropped in the wake of the withdrawal, especially among independent voters. Only 38 percent approve of his handling of Afghanistan — a 17 point drop since July, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Thursday’s RealClearPolitics’ average of polls showed Biden’s approval underwater, with 50 percent disapproving and 45.2 percent approving — a deficit of -4.8 percent.
“It’s a hard thing for the American people to try and figure out what the truth is when you’re trying to read a transcript…” Hemmer said, referring to transcripts of Wednesday’s hearing.