Leavitt Tells Reporters Trump Has Been Much More Accessible Than Biden

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a striking statistic during her Thursday briefing, underscoring the stark difference in accessibility between President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden.

“As you all know, over the past month the president has taken questions from the press, all of you, nearly every single day, sometimes on multiple different occasions in the same day on any topic any of you wish to talk about,” Leavitt stated.

She further emphasized, “President Trump set the tone on this approach immediately when he took more than 12 times the questions in his first few hours in office as Joe Biden did in his entire first week.”

A memorable moment from Trump’s second inauguration on Jan. 20 was his engagement with reporters while signing multiple executive orders.

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In July 2024, Axios released an article titled “Biden’s media evasion,” which pointed out that the Democrat president had given fewer press conferences and media interviews than any of the past seven presidents at the same stage of their tenure. At that point, Biden had participated in only 164 interviews, compared to Trump’s 468.

Other presidents also surpassed Biden in media interactions, including George W. Bush with 248 and Ronald Reagan with 262.

The Daily Signal reported in August 2023 that “over the past three months, the number of reporters with access to the White House dropped by 31%. There are now 442 fewer reporters with a coveted ‘hard pass’—the result of new rules announced in May.”

On Thursday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller criticized members of the media for not placing more emphasis on Biden’s apparent disengagement.

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“You’re tempting me to say some very harsh things about some of our media friends,” Miller remarked when asked about who was actually governing the country during Biden’s presidency.

He went on, “It is true that many of the people in this room for four years failed to cover the fact that Joe Biden was mentally incompetent and was not running the country.”

Meanwhile, President Trump’s approval ratings have remained strong, maintaining a positive trajectory one month into his administration, despite the rapid implementation of his policies.

According to Newsweek, Trump has secured approval ratings of at least 50 percent in three recent surveys. The outlet noted that these “surveys suggest that most Americans approve of the job the president is doing, despite other polls indicating that Trump’s favorability ratings have declined since his first few days back in office.”

A SurveyUSA poll of 2,000 adults found that a majority (51 percent) approve of Trump’s performance as president, while 45 percent disapprove, resulting in a net approval rating of +6 points.

When examined by region, the data revealed that Trump’s approval was higher in rural areas (59 percent) compared to suburban (48 percent) and urban areas (51 percent).

The SurveyUSA poll took place between February 13 and 16 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Additionally, a Morning Consult poll released Tuesday found that 50 percent of voters approved of Trump’s performance, while 47 percent disapproved, as reported by Newsweek.

Further reinforcing Trump’s standing, a poll conducted by a Republican-affiliated firm indicated that he continues to hold a robust approval rating.

According to a Napolitan News survey conducted by Scott Rasmussen and RMG Research, Trump’s approval rating stood at 55 percent, with 43 percent disapproving, giving him a net approval score of +12 points, Newsweek reported.