Biden aides provided questions in advance for his radio interviews

“The questions were sent to me for approval; I approved of them,” she told Victor Blackwell, the host of “First of All” on CNN. Asked if it was the White House that sent the questions to her in advance, she said it was.

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said it was actually campaign aides, not White House officials, who sent the list of questions. She said it is “not uncommon” for the campaign to share preferred topics but added that campaign officials “do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions” by the interviewer.

“Hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners,” she said.

Biden’s campaign had scheduled interviews with the hosts of two radio programs with large Black followings as part of a broader effort to reassure Americans of his mental fitness after his disastrous debate performance in Atlanta that raised deep concerns among many Democrats. In a later interview with ABC News on Friday, the president appeared to refer to his exchanges with the Black radio hosts as among the evidence that he could handle the rigors of the campaign, citing what he said were “10 major events in a row” that he participated in since the debate.

No one in the president’s reelection campaign or at the White House revealed ahead of time that the questions were provided to the Black hosts, a practice that is widely rejected as inappropriate by journalists, especially in coverage of a politician. And yet, despite knowing the questions in advance, Biden still stumbled over some of them. During his appearance on “The Earl Ingram Show” on WMCS in Milwaukee, Biden responded to a question about why voting matters with a halting and sometimes confusing answer.

“It’s just that if the White House is trying now to prove the vim, vigor, acuity of the president, I don’t know how they do that by sending questions first, before the interviews, so that the president knows what’s coming,” Blackwell said.