The New York Times publisher A. G. Sulzberger revealed that the White House is upset that President Joe Biden's age has become fodder for his reporters, The Hill reported. The administration is increasingly worried about the media attention on Biden's apparent age-related cognitive decline.
Sulzberger said that the Biden administration has accused the paper of focusing on Biden's age too negatively. He countered that with a strong assertion that the Times equally criticizes Biden and former President Donald Trump.
"We are just stating the truth fully and plainly, but we are also doing that in a way that is unemotional. We are not anyone’s opposition, and we’re not anyone’s lap dog," Sulzberger claimed during an interview with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Monday.
"We are going to continue to report fully and fairly, not just on Donald Trump but also on President Joe Biden. He is a historically unpopular incumbent and the oldest man to ever hold this office. We’ve reported on both of those realities extensively, and the White House has been extremely upset about it," Sulzberger said.
Still, Sulzberger was quick to point out that the Times does not equate Biden's age with Trump's issues in the 2024 campaign. "We are not saying that this is the same as Trump’s five court cases or that they are even. They are different," he claimed.
"But they are both true, and the public needs to know both those things. And if you are hyping up one side or downplaying the other, no side has a reason to trust you in the long run," Sulzberger added.
Biden's mental acuity has been an issue that the right has discussed from the start, but it's become front and center everywhere recently. During a press conference where he was attempting to rebut the idea that his mind was slipping, Biden became belligerent.
BIDEN: “I’m well-meaning and I’m an elderly man and I know what the hell I’m doing! I’m President and I put this country back on its feet!”pic.twitter.com/TCdYlZDDKM
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 9, 2024
Until recently, the establishment media cut Trump no slack on any issue while leaving Biden and the Democrats alone about everything negative. Now that a little of that heat is finally on Biden, the White House won't tolerate it.
The now-infamous news conference was meant to smooth things over after special counsel Robert Hur concluded that Biden couldn't be responsible for unsecured classified documents at his home due to his age and impairment, ABC News reported. Instead, it renewed the conversation about his unfitness to run.
The report claimed that the president had significant memory challenges. The report noted "diminished faculties" after Biden couldn't recall which years he served as vice president or when the death of his son Beau Biden occurred.
The White House apparently thought these revelations were serious enough to send a missive to the White House Correspondents Association asking them to back off. The letter claimed Hur's "wrong and inappropriate personal comments have distracted from due attention to the substance," according to CNN, which was the first to report on the letter to the press corps.
"Many outlets have reported striking inaccuracies that misrepresent the report’s conclusion about the President, and reporters in the White House Briefing Room have asked questions that include false content or are based on false premises," White House spokesman Ian Sams. However, the president's conduct in the news conference following the report speaks for itself.
The Biden White House is used to reporting that is always friendly to the Democrat. Instead, the Times and other news outlets are actually beginning to report the news as it unfolds, and Biden is frightened that his reelection bid simply can't stand up to that kind of scrutiny.
