A video emerged on Sunday of First Lady Jill Biden physically moving President Joe Biden away from members of the press as they asked him questions before he boarded Air Force One.
ALERT: China’s Navy is growing while US Navy is shrinking its fleet
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson shared the clip, adding the caption, “Joe Biden is now being physically manhandled by Jill. This man is not in charge.”
The video was not the first time the First Lady had been seen physically moving her husband away from members of the press. In October 2020, as then-President Donald Trump was concluding a hospital visit after testing positive for COVID-19, Jill Biden could be seen pulling her husband back from the press.
Jill Biden appeared to say “come back a little” as she pulled her masked husband a few additional feet away from masked members of the press.
Jill Biden is not the only person to have moved Joe Biden away from members of the press. In April, someone dressed as an Easter Bunny pulled the president away after he began talking to people during a White House Easter event.
Another Twitter user referenced the Easter Bunny encounter when White House staffers ushered away members of the press as they shouted questions to Biden during his visit to the G7 Summit in June.
The two times Jill Biden moved her husband away from members of the press, she did not stop her husband from continuing to talk. The other times Biden has been separated from members of the press have fueled allegations that Biden is not able to field questions from the press off-the-cuff.
In October 2020, former presidential physician Ronny Jackson (who was running at the time for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican) said Biden is unfit for the office of the presidency and should take a cognitive test before ever assuming the role. Last month, Jackson circulated a letter, renewing his call for Biden to take a cognitive test.
Another video from last week appeared to show Biden preparing to take a question during a White House meeting that was open to the press at the time. Before he could answer the question, White House staffers intervened and asked to close the event to the press.
“I — I took control. I shouldn’t do that,” Biden said, according to a White House transcript from the meeting. “I’m not allowed to do that. Go ahead. You tell me.”
“I think we’re going to go ahead and have the rest of the conversation closed press,” a member of the White House staff can be heard saying. “So, thank you all so much.”