The Biden campaign called yet another press “lid” Wednesday morning following a bombshell report showing that former Vice President Joe Biden may have lied about meeting with an executive from Ukraine energy firm, Burisma Holdings, in 2015.
The New York Post reported early Wednesday about a newly obtained “smoking gun” email that appeared to show that Hunter Biden brokered a meeting in April 2015 between his father and and Burisma’s “No. 3 exec,” Vadym Pozharskyi. Biden has repeatedly denied ever discussing his son’s “overseas business dealings.”
“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure,” the e-mail from Pozharskyi to Hunter Biden reads.
The revelation, which calls into question Biden’s honesty regarding his son’s past lucrative position on the Burisma board, is certainly a subject of interest to the media.
Feeling the heat, Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates hit back at the report in a statement, saying, “We have reviewed Joe Biden’s official schedules from the time and no meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place.”
But a prepared statement from the campaign is not quite the same as a candidate responding to reporter’s questions. Unfortunately, at least for the remainder of the day, press will be unable to get a direct response from Biden himself on the matter.
Daily Mail reporter Nikki Schwab posted part of a press release on Twitter late Wednesday morning, showing that while the Biden campaign had called a lid, the candidate would still be participating in a fundraiser later in the day.
“The Biden campaign has called a lid. Later this afternoon, Biden will participate in a virtual fundraiser. Your pooler will send a report at its conclusion,” the release said. “At 7 p.m., Biden is delivering pre-taped remarks to American Muslims at the Muslims Making Change: National Honors event. Those remarks are open press.”
It should be noted that calling early press lids — arcane signals that mean a candidate is done campaigning for the day and won’t be speaking to reporters — have become a common practice for the 77-year-old Democratic nominee during this year’s election.
The gaffe-prone candidate has generally relied on a low-profile, under-the-radar campaign and has fielded far fewer questions from reporters than his opponent, President Trump.
So while the action of calling a lid is not unusual for Biden, the timing of Wednesday’s lid is what some are finding suspicious.
