Last Updated on March 25, 2021
Photographs taken during President Joe Biden’s poorly received Thursday press conference reveal that he used a “cheat sheet” with the names and faces of the reporters pre-selected to receive an answer from him in response to certain questions. The cue cards also contained talking points for him to repeat during the press conference, such as his plans for infrastructure spending.
Talking points such as “The United States now ranks 13th globally in infrastructure quality — down from 5th place in 2002,” and, “China spends 3 times more on infrastructure than U.S.” could be seen on the cue cards held in the hands of the President.
Another piece of paper contained the names and headshots of reporters present at the press conference, with some names circled to indicate which ones would be allowed to receive a response from the President.
NEW PHOTOS: Biden's press conference cheat sheet has a picture of each reporter on it, their name, and who to call on in numerical order pic.twitter.com/KFCjNtDewc
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 26, 2021
OMG Biden had a cheat sheet with journalists photo on them so he knows which ones to pick on!!! pic.twitter.com/cBvIGowEdq
— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) March 26, 2021
Though Biden’s use of cue cards to screen questions and speak about policy is unprecedented for a commander-in-chief, supporters have argued that the move makes sense given Biden’s past history of gaffes, such as confusing his wife for his sister and forgetting the name of his Secretary of Defense, former Raytheon board member Lloyd Austin.
Despite his helpful cue cards, Biden still managed to make numerous gaffes during Thursday’s press conference.
In one instance, Biden promised to “say something outrageous” but then appeared to entirely forget what he was talking about and moved on:
During Joe Biden’s long-awaited first press conference since taking office, the President said “I’m going to say something outrageous,” then promptly forgot what he was going to say, in what could be described as the newest addition to his long list of embarrassing gaffes.
“I’m going to say something outrageous,” said Biden. “I have never been particularly poor at calculating how to get things done in the United States Senate. So, the best way to get something done, if you, if you hold near and dear to you that you uh, um, like to be able to uh, anyway,” muttered Biden.
“We’re going to get a lot done,” said the President.
Biden’s cue cards came in handy when he was asked a question about North Korea, which he responded to by reading a prepared response off of his cheat sheet.
