Biden talks election, economy and Middle East in surprise news briefing

WASHINGTON (AP) — After 1,080 days as president, Joe Biden on Friday decided to pop in and take questions in the White House briefing room for the first time, striding in with a grin after a strong monthly jobs report and the temporary settlement of a strike by ports workers.

The president has been less available than his recent predecessors to questions from White House press corps, making his surprise appearance welcome to the gathered reporters who waited as his press secretary’s daily briefing was moved up 15 minutes, then delayed for nearly one hour.

The president stepped through the press room’s blue door in a dark gray suit and red tie and proceeded to make news in response to questions about comments on the 2024 presidential election, the latest jobs numbers and the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

The 81-year old stepped aside from the Democratic nomination this summer, backing Vice President Kamala Harris instead. He acknowledged doubts about whether the November election would be peaceful, given comments by former President Donald Trump that the results could be rigged.

“I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful,” Biden said. “The things that Trump has said, and the the things that he said last time when he didn’t like the outcome of the election, were very dangerous.”

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Biden has tried to rebut a political movement that has at times openly trafficked in conspiracy theories, with the latest revolving around the government reporting Friday that employers added 254,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%.

“Another fake jobs report out from Biden-Harris government today,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., posted on social media. “But all the fake numbers in the world aren’t going to fool people dealing with the Biden-Harris.”

The jobs reports are legitimate and have capped a solid run for the U.S. economy. Growth has stayed solid even as the inflation rate has dropped from a four-decade high in 2022 to an annual rate of 2.5%.

Consumer confidence has been weak relative to overall economic growth, a sign that many people still don’t feel the strength seen in the latest jobs and inflation numbers. But Biden stressed that he was operating on valid data despite unfounded claims of falsification by supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.

“If you notice, anything the MAGA Republicans don’t like they call ‘fake,’” Biden said. “The job numbers are what the job numbers are. They’re real. They’re sincere.”

The president also highlighted the deal reached Thursday to suspend a strike by 45,000 dockworkers on East and Gulf coast ports until Jan. 15, creating time to try to hash out a new contract.

Still, challenges remain for Biden as his final months as president involve the risk of a wider war in the Middle East.

Since Hamas attacked Israel nearly a year ago, Israel has retaliated by bombarding the Gaza region in ways that have raised human rights concerns, as well as killing Hezbollah leaders and launching airstrikes in Lebanon. On Tuesday, Iran fired at least 180 missiles into Israel and there are concerns about additional retaliation that could cause the conflict to deepen.

When asked, Biden clarified his comments from a day earlier about Israel possibly striking Iranian oil facilities, which caused the price of the commodity to jump on the prospect of supplies being squeezed.

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“Look, the Israelis have not concluded what they’re going to do in terms of a strike,” Biden said Friday. “That’s under discussion. I think if I were in their shoes, I’d be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields.”

The president emphasized that he and Harris are “singing from the same song sheet” on foreign and domestic policy, calling her a “major player in everything we’ve done.”

As Biden began to leave the room, he was asked if he would reconsider his decision to exit the race. Biden cocked his head and smiled.

“I’m back in,” he joked.