President Joe Biden will reportedly sit for an interview with late-night talk show host Seth Meyers on Monday, continuing a string of celebrity spots while shunning sit-downs with news reporters.
Though the White House has not confirmed the interview, media outlets have reported it, and Biden visited NBC Studios during his trip to New York for a campaign reception. The interview with Meyers falls in line with the president's recent interview habits that have seen him favor face time with celebrities in friendly surroundings over speaking one-on-one with journalists from print or television news outlets.
For example, he spoke with former late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien in December for a podcast, talked with NBC's Al Roker during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and spoke with ABC's Ryan Seacrest on New Year's Eve.
The president shunned a Super Bowl interview for the second straight year and has been criticized for a general lack of press access.
CBS correspondent Ed O'Keefe asked the day before the O'Brien interview if Biden would agree to a traditional end-of-the-year press conference with White House reporters.
"I don't have anything else to add about an end-of-the-year press conference," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. Biden did not do a press conference.
Biden has done 33 press conferences as president, the fewest since Ronald Reagan, and has given just 86 interviews, compared to 422 for Barack Obama and 300 for Donald Trump at this point in their presidencies, according to the Associated Press.
Biden's lack of interviews, especially challenging ones with news reporters, could feed into voter concerns that he's no longer up to the job or facing memory loss, though he has appeared relatively often on shows likely to be viewed by Democratic-leaning audiences that will be crucial to his reelection bid.
Jean-Pierre was cagey when asked about the Meyers interview on Monday, saying, "I don't have anything on that. If we have more to share, then certainly, we will."
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When asked if the lack of confirmation was an attempt to avoid anti-Israel protests, she gave a similar response.
"I don't have anything else to share on that," she said.
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