With 21 Democrats already running for the party’s nomination in the 2020 presidential campaign, many candidates are looking for a way to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately for former Vice President Joe Biden, he and his campaign have apparently found a way to do just that.
According to freelance reporter Marcus DiPaola, the candidate and his staff have physically tried to bar reporters from asking Biden any questions in an apparent attempt to avoid any gaffes or inquiries that might damage his candidacy.
As if that wasn’t bizarre enough, the people working with him were doing the same with people taking photographs of these confrontations.
In a Twitter thread on Wednesday, DiPaola stated that he was on the trail with Biden that night in Iowa:
A reporter approached @JoeBiden to ask a question, and a member of his staff told the reporter to leave, and when the reporter explained that they were just doing their job, the staffer said she was too.
The staffer then took a photo of the reporter.
DiPaola later tweeted that a different reporter “just told me that yesterday a staff member physically put their body between the reporter and @JoeBiden.”
“The reporter said they weren't even that close,” he noted, and “there were several supporters between the reporter and Biden."
In addition, the second reporter stated that “the staffer physically invaded their space to the point that the reporter could smell the staffer's ponytail,” an apparent reference to the claims that the Democrat has been accused of unwanted touching of women for many years.
Things got even worse when a third reporter told DiPaola “that a staff member physically put their body between @JoeBiden and the reporter, moments ago at this rally in Des Moines” and blocked his shot by “putting up her hands” between the candidate and the camera.
Chicago writer Joy Beth Smith responded that these actions appear to demonstrate “a campaign priority to keep Biden from the press at all costs.”
The writer’s assertion got some support when the campaign “moved the location of Biden's motorcade numerous times and sent Biden through a Jimmy John's in its attempt to avoid questions but was ultimately unsuccessful.”
DiPaola also noted: “While getting the video I just shot of Biden calling for [Attorney General William] Barr to resign, a @JoeBiden staffer physically placed her body between me and the candidate, causing me to bump into her.”
The candidate was quoted as asserting that Barr has “lost the confidence of the American people. I think he should” step down.
The cameraman next tweeted:
I cannot express how difficult it was to get this video. @JoeBiden staff moved his motorcade THREE TIMES to avoid us, and he eventually went through what appeared to be a TUNNEL … to dodge our questions.
Nevertheless, DiPaola added while Biden “tried very very very hard to dodge us,” the press still “got him!”
When asked if this behavior was typical for the former vice president, the videographer replied:
The answer is some of them cover Biden regularly and don't want to jeopardize their relationship with the campaign.
Some have to get permission from their employers to speak on-the-record. I'm a freelancer. I'm a nobody. I can tweet whatever I want.
As NewsBusters reported back in 2015, perhaps Biden is not taking any questions because he was considered a “gaffemaking machine,” a trait that some liberal newsmen considered “part of his charm.”
