WASHINGTON, Sep 14. US President Joe Biden speaks for himself, there is no person in the White House who can interrupt him in mid-sentence, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in connection with the interrupted broadcast of Biden's briefing at the moment when he began to ask a question to one of the officials. On the issue of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the chairman of the international affairs committee, Republican Senator James Risch, asked Blinken how it happened that the day before the White House interrupted the broadcast of the event with Biden in the middle of the president's statement. «Someone in the White House has the authority to push a button and stop the president in mid-sentence. Who is this man?» Risch asked.
Biden's act was considered a public insult to his wife, Blinken said that anyone who knows Biden understands that he speaks «clearly, intelligibly and for himself,» no one has the authority to interrupt him. «There is no such person. The president speaks for himself, makes all strategic decisions,» the secretary of state replied to the senator's question. He stressed that there is no person who could press the button and interrupt the broadcast in mid-sentence. “I don’t know what you are referring to, but I have been working with the president for 20 years. He speaks for himself … work for a long time, «- said Blinken. Earlier, the White House unexpectedly interrupted the broadcast from Biden's briefing, after he began to ask a question of one of the officials. Biden held a briefing Monday with federal and Idaho officials. The meeting focused on wildfires that are affecting several states in the west of the country. The briefing was broadcast online. According to Fox News, when Biden began to ask a question from the representative of the national forestry association, George Geissler, the broadcast was suddenly interrupted. The White House did not comment on the incident.
Biden at a rally in California remembered Trump and crossed himself At the end of August, Fox News reported that White House officials during a press conference turned off the microphone of the US President after a journalist asked about the evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan, to which he replied sarcastically after mute. The channel emphasized that at that time it was not known whether the employees accidentally turned off the president's microphone at that moment, or whether it happened on purpose so that “viewers did not hear unprepared answers.” After the incident with the mute, the president and his administration were criticized. Some Republicans have accused the White House of trying to protect the head of state in this way. Some, as noted by the TV channel, stressed that usually Biden has a list of journalists who are supposed to ask questions, and supposedly the answers can be prepared in advance. Many began to worry that the president might allegedly not take the evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan seriously.
