During the ongoing G7 Summit in Japan on Saturday, U.S. President Joe Biden spoke bluntly to a member of the press, telling a journalist to “shush up” about the domestic negotiations to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.
This weekend, dignitaries from seven of the world’s most economically advanced countries are meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, to tread on marble floors in tailored suits, discussing the future of the world economy in highly watched press conferences. However, in a candid moment during one of this weekend’s events, the president, appearing defensive about the subject of the U.S. debt ceiling, scolded a reporter for asking a series of seemingly benign questions.
As a part of this summit, President Biden sat down with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to discuss a docket of topics including the war in Ukraine, global energy policy, Pacific trade and more. But Biden seemed to get defensive when the subject came to the U.S. debt ceiling, which has concerned many analysts worried about the prospect of the world’s leading developed economy defaulting on its debts.
During this talk, a reporter spoke out to ask what seemed like a softball question for the leader of the free world, but Biden’s response was unusually terse and impolitic, especially as he addressed the young lady in a public forum.
“Mr. President, are the Republicans negotiating in good faith?” a female-sounding reporter asked the president. Biden began to answer the question but grew annoyed as the press attempted to ask follow-up questions.
“Shush up, okay? Thank you,” Biden scolded the reporter after she tried to ask a follow-up. The president then continued with an incoherent diatribe, seemingly describing his efforts to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling before defaulting would begin.
“It goes in stages. And what happens is the first meetings weren’t all that progressive, the second ones were, the third one was. I still believe we’ll be able to avoid a default and we’ll get something decent done,” Biden rambled, after which point he ignored questions from the press.
Prime Minister Albanese even made light of the terse interaction, quipping that the journalists present were “very disruptive” to their little, bilateral chat. Biden had recently cancelled a trip to Sydney to meet again with Albanese, instead choosing to return to the United States to deal with the debt ceiling situation.
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