Lame-duck Biden arrives in South America for global summits after mid-flight press revolt over lack of access

LIMA — President Biden arrived in Peru’s capital Thursday night for the first of two major international conferences with his daughter Ashley and granddaughter Natalie — as reporters protested the increasingly irrelevant lame-duck leader’s lack of scheduled press availabilities during the weeklong trip.Biden, 81, did not speak to reporters upon arriving for his first official trip to South America — where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders at the APEC and G20 summits — after reporters harangued White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Air Force One.“Biden wants to engage with leaders.He is not choosing to engage with the press.

There is no press conference on either leg of this trip.He has a matter of days left.

I mean, what was the issue?” one journalist vented during a mid-air press gaggle.“He is going to continue to engage with the press,” Jean-Pierre replied before delivering a well-worn deflection.“What I would say is, stay tuned.

He will continue to do that, and I just don’t have anything beyond that.”Another journalist then leaned into Biden — who has been increasingly out of view as President-elect Donald Trump dominates the news cycle with unconventional selections for Cabinet picks after a campaign in which Biden claimed the Republican would dismantle democracy and rule as a fascist.The second journalist asked if Biden, who dropped his own re-election bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris amid a Democratic mutiny over his mental acuity, was staying out of the spotlight because he was not in a position to offer cogent words for public consumption.“Post-election press conferences in most administrations have been sort of a set piece.Does that say something about where his head’s at, that he’s not a place to even engage with us?” a wire reporter inquired.“Typically presidents do engage with the press,” the reporter said.“He will continue to engage with the pres...