Det hvite hus’ presse­talskvinne Karine Jean-Pierre avbrøt søndag USAs president Joe Biden mens han snakket uforståelig under en presse­konferanse i Vietnams hovedstad Hanoi. Bidens mikrofon ble skrudd av og musikk satt på etter at Jean-Pierre tok ordet fra presidenten.

Daily Mail omtaler avbrytelsen av Bidens babling for et «utrolig øyeblikk». Da mikrofonen ble avskrudd fortsatte presidenten å snakke som om han ikke hadde merket avbrytelsen, innen han gikk av podiet idet avslappende jazzmusikk fylte rommet, skriver den engelske avisen.

Biden befant seg et stykke ut i en lang tirade da det ikke lenger var mulig å forstå hvor han ville:

Biden was mid-flow and answering questions from journalists when he was interrupted and forced to shuffle away and head backstage.

‘We talked about stability, we talked about the Third World, excuse me, the Southern Hemisphere has access to change. It wasn’t confrontational at all….’ Biden said as he rambled on.

Pressetalskvinnen brøt så inn og takket de fremmøtte:

Suddenly, the booming voice of his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, could be heard butting in.

‘Thank you everybody. This ends the press conference. Thanks everyone,’ she said as she brought the presser to a close.

Biden fortsatte å snakke inn i mikrofonen etter at jazzmusikken var blitt satt på:

In another bizarre twist, jazz music then began to play over the loudspeaker, with the 80-year-old still seemingly trying to answer questions as he continued to speak into the microphone.

As the president tried to answer a few more questions, the music grew louder prompting Biden to put away his leather-backed folder and shuffle offstage, disappearing behind a black curtain.

Den amerikanske presidenten, som også mumlet en replikk fra filmen «Good morning, Vietnam» mens det hele pågikk, erkjente selv at han var sliten etter å ha vært på reise i fem dager:

In what was supposed to be a show of stamina – Biden is circumnavigating the globe in five days – the 80-year-old commander-in-chief joked about not knowing if it was morning or night and ended the presser event by saying, ‘I’m going to go to bed.’

Pressekonferansen var lagt opp slik at Biden ikke skulle bli nødt til å svare på de potensielt vanskeligste spørsmålene:

The choice of journalist also appeared to have Biden mostly ignoring a group of U.S. print and TV reporters who were girding to get into domestic concerns like his low poll numbers due to his advanced age and a possible indictment of his son, Hunter, on a gun charge.

En amerikansk meningsmåling viste i forrige uke at 77 prosent av de spurte, herunder 69 prosent av Demokratiske velgere, mener at Biden er for gammel til gjenvalg, skriver Daily Mail.

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