The White House abruptly cut the livestreaming of US President Joe Biden’s speech in Idaho, where he met officials to discuss the wildfires that have been ravaging western United States. The incident took place when Biden was asking a question to an audience member.
That person was George Geissler of the national association of state foresters.
“Can I ask you a question?” Biden asked.
“Of course,” Geissler responded.
“One of the things that I’ve been working on with some others is…” the US president had spoken only this much when the feed was cut and was replaced with “Thank you for joining” message.
The clip was posted on Twitter by the Republican National Committee
This is not the first time that such a thing has happened with the 78-year-old US President. The livestrem was interrupted last month when Biden was about to answer a reporter’s question on American forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In March, Biden was attending a Democratic Party event and said he was “happy to answer” questions when the feed was cut, Fox News reported.
The buzz around abrupt ending of the President’s speech gained traction since Politico carried a report last week which quoted White House staffers as saying that they “mute” Biden’s remarks over worries that he will veer off the scheduled agenda prepared by his office.
The US President, meanwhile, used his visit to Idaho and other western states to hold out the wildfires burning across the region as an argument for his $3.5 trillion rebuilding plans. He called the year-round fires and other extreme weather a climate change reality the nation can no longer ignore.
“We can’t ignore the reality that these wildfires are being supercharged by climate change,” Biden said, noting that catastrophic weather doesn’t strike based on partisan ideology. “It isn’t about red or blue states. It’s about fires. Just fires.”
