White House defends Biden’s decision to skip year-end press conference

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended President Joe Biden‘s decision not to hold a year-end press conference on Thursday, citing Biden’s decision to field a handful of questions while traveling to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.

The president held a bilateral press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in mid-December, but he has held significantly fewer formal press conferences than his direct predecessors.

OATH OF OFFICE: BIDEN RAN ON FIXING THE IMMIGRATION SYSTEM, BUT BORDER CRISIS BURGEONS

Jean-Pierre was pressed on the decision during Thursday’s press briefing not to end the year with an expanded question-and-answer session with Biden. Jean-Pierre discounted the idea that the president doesn’t want to defend his legislative record.

“I think anytime the president travels and is in front of the American people, he does that. He did that in Wisconsin, where he talked about Bidenomics,” she told reporters. “He talked about small businesses and how that’s a pillar of Bidenomics and investing in America. So, you heard him do that directly to the American people.”

Jean-Pierre claimed that the White House makes “an effort to do a press conference as often as possible, whether it’s here at home or abroad.”

Still, asked why Biden, who only had one call with a foreign leader on his public schedule on Thursday, couldn’t “make time” for a press conference.

“He made time yesterday to talk to the press yesterday. He did,” she countered. “He talked to them. We made time to make sure that he gave a statement about what was happening in Venezuela, about the hostage exchange, the swap that you all saw that was very successful, a time to do that. He stood in front of the press pool, in front of me, and made that statement and took some questions.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

You can watch Thursday’s briefing in full below.