White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly shut down a press conference in Vietnam on Sunday as President Joe Biden, 80, was in the middle of a rambling answer about his recent conversation with a Chinese communist.
"I don't know about you, but I'm going to go to bed," he told reporters shortly before his microphone was cut off and slow jazz music started to play.
"Thank you everybody. This ends the press conference," Jean-Pierre interjected as Biden continued to mumble semi-coherently in response to a question about his meeting with former Chinese Communist Party boss Li Keqiang at last week's G20 Summit in India.
Fox News and CNN both reported on the sudden end to the press conference, drawing angry reactions from members of Biden's staff.
"The President substantively answered questions from 7 reporters," one White House official told Fox. "This is a distraction, and it would do your readers a good service to dive into his answers on China, relations with Indo-Pacific countries, human rights and climate change instead."
In response to a CNN report headlined, "White House press secretary ends news conference as Biden is still responding to questions from reporters," several Biden aides lashed out on social media.
