MSNBC on Monday waited and waited...and waited on Joe Biden. As the wait for President’s press conference stretched from an hour, to two hours, and finally to just under two and a half hours, the polite hosts kept promising that the President would be there ”soon” and “any moment.” Rarely any wonderment at the 149 minute delay, they stayed chipper.
At 1:00 PM Eastern (7 PM in Brussels), Kasie Hunt excitedly came on the air to announce: “In Brussels, we are expecting to see President Biden hold a press conference potentially any minute now after a day of meetings with key American partners and allies at today's NATO summit.”
Seventeen minutes later, she again swore, “Stick around, we’re going to be coming right back to you for the President’s press conference, which as we said, we expect to happen any moment now.”
At 1:35 PM, Hunt teased, “Welcome back. You are looking at live pictures out of Brussels where President Biden will hold a press conference likely any moment now after a crucial day of meetings.”
Twelve minutes later, the first hint of doubt crept in:
MIKE MEMOLI: These are some of the hot topics for the President as he comes to the microphones later, hopefully soon.
HUNT: Hopefully soon, indeed.
At 2 PM, the anchors changed, but the waiting continued. Geoff Bennett again promised action any moment now:
As we come on the air in two o’clock eastern, eight o’clock in Brussels, we are awaiting President Biden who is expected to hold a news conference at any moment from the NATO summit in Brussels. We’ll bring it to you as soon as the President appears.
At 2:46 PM ET, the BREAKING NEWS graphic alerted... that nothing was happening:
And we continue to await President Biden at the NATO summit in Brussels. He is expected to take questions a day before his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday. Of course, there is never a shortage of topics reporters can cover with President Biden, and we'll bring it to you as soon as it starts.
At the two hour mark, a third anchor arrived. Ayman Mohyeldin promised "any moment now" while the MSNBC graphic swore it would be “live in moments.”
Good afternoon. I’m Ayman Mohyeldin in New York. Any moment now, President Biden will hold a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels in Belgium. He is expected to face questions on a host of topics. We’re going to bring that to you live as soon as it begins.
Finally, two hours and 29 minutes later, Mohyeldin announced that the President had arrived: “Let’s cross over to listen to President Biden in Brussels.”
Partial transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
MTP Daily
06/14/2021
1:00 PM ETKASIE HUNT: Welcome to Meet the Press Daily. I'm Kasie Hunt in for Chuck Todd on this very busy day for Americans at home and abroad. In Brussels, we are expecting to see President Biden hold a press conference potentially any minute now after a day of meetings with key American partners and allies at today's NATO summit.
(....)
1:17 PM ET
HUNT: Stick around, we’re going to be coming right back to you for the President’s press conference, which as we said, we expect to happen any moment now.
(....)
1:35 PM ET
HUNT: Welcome back. You are looking at live pictures out of Brussels where President Biden will hold a press conference likely any moment now after a crucial day of meetings.
MIKE MEMOLI: These are some of the hot topics for the President as he comes to the microphones later, hopefully soon.
HUNT: Hopefully soon, indeed.
(....)
1:49 PM ET
HALLIE JACKSON: It is a familiar sight for our veiewers, this backdrop at NATO headquarters. We should note, as we get into this so that our viewers know, this is one of those situations where we think the president is imminently going to walk up to that microphone and begin to take questions. Like so much of what happens at these summits, his meeting, for example, that he was in just moments ago with President Erdogan may run late.
(....)
2:00 PM ET
GEOFF BENNETT: As we come on the air in two o’clock eastern, eight o’clock in Brussels, we are awaiting President Biden who is expected to hold a news conference at any moment from the NATO summit in Brussels. We’ll bring it to you as soon as the President appears.
(....)
2:46 PM ET
BENNETT: And we continue to await President Biden at the NATO summit in Brussels. He is expected to take questions a day before his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday. Of course, there is never a shortage of topics reporters can cover with President Biden, and we'll bring it to you as soon as it starts.
(....)
3:00 PM ET
AYMAN MOHYELDIN: Good afternoon. I’m Ayman Mohyeldin in New York. Any moment now, President Biden will hold a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels in Belgium. He is expected to face questions on a host of topics. We’re going to bring that to you live as soon as it begins.
(....)
3:29 PM ET
MOHYELDIN: Let’s cross over to listen to President Biden in Brussels.
