President Joe Biden joked with reporters on Wednesday that he was giving up the press for Lent, continuing his trend of limited interviews and appearances since taking office in 2021.

On the North Lawn outside the White House in Washington, D.C., reporters asked Biden questions as he and first lady Jill Biden surveyed the Valentine’s Day decorations. Yesterday also served as Ash Wednesday, the start of the 40-day period for Lent.

“What are you giving up for Lent?” a reporter asked the president.

“You guys,” Joe Biden quipped, to which the reporters laughed and said, “Good one.”

Joe Biden has held fewer news conferences than his predecessors within his first 2 1/2 years as president, despite pledging to restore press relations following the Trump administration. By April 2023, he held the fewest news conferences since Ronald Reagan, according to the New York Times. Instead, the White House has posted social media messages or contacted influencers to spread the Biden administration’s message.

Most recently, Joe Biden declined to sit for an interview at the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year. The president participated in Super Bowl interviews with CBS and NBC ahead of the big game in 2021 and 2022. Before Joe Biden’s back-to-back snubs, Trump’s decision not to interview with NBC in 2018 was the biggest snub to the 21st-century tradition.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

From taking office on Jan. 20, 2021, to April 29, 2022, Joe Biden gave 23 interviews. In contrast, Trump gave 95 interviews between Jan. 20, 2017, and April 29, 2018, according to the White House Transition Project, a nonpartisan group that chronicles presidential communications. Barack Obama gave 187 interviews throughout his equivalent time period, per the Guardian.

In 2023, Joe Biden did interviews on the Drew Barrymore Show, the SiriusXM podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, and the Weather Channel. He also did sit-downs with CBS News’s 60 Minutes and other news programs.