Biden makes first appearance in White House briefing room as president

Citing his predecessor’s history of inciting violence, President Joe Biden on Friday warned that he could not guarantee that the coming presidential election and transition period would be a peaceful, as he made his first appearance in the White House press briefing room since taking office 1,353 days ago.

Asked if he has confidence that the 2024 election would be both free and fair as well as peaceful, Biden told reporters he has confidence that the November 5 election will be “free and fair” but he demurred on the latter, citing previous actions by his predecessor, former president Donald Trump.

“The things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn’t like the outcome of the election were very dangerous,” Biden said.

He added that Trump’s running-mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has also not said whether he’d accept the outcome of the coming election if he and the ex-president do not win.

“So I’m concerned about what they’re going to do,” Biden said.

Biden’s first-ever visit to the briefing room since taking the oath of office in January 2021 came just hours after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released employment data for last month that blew past analyst predictions, and on the heels of his administration negotiating a deal to put off a potentially catastrophic strike at major US ports until next year while the parties continue negotiations.

He entered the briefing room, which is a roughly 30-second walk from the Oval Office, at approximately 2:08 pm Eastern Time on Friday.

He greeted reporters with a joke by introducing himself: “My name is Joe Biden.”

The president told reporters that the past two days had produced “very good news for the American economy,’ starting with the agreement he and his aides helped broker between the longshoreman’s union representing workers at ports on the East and Gulf coasts and the port operators.

“Just yesterday, shipping carriers, after some discussion and international, longstanding union, came to an agreement to keep the ports in the East Coast and the Gulf ports open. We averted what could have become a major crisis for the country,” he said.

Biden said the “tentative agreement” between the longshoreman’s union and the port operators “includes record wage increases for dock workers … shows the importance of collective bargaining and represents …critical progress toward a strong contract.”

“I especially want to thank the carriers, the port operators and the longshoremans Union for reaching this agreement at a time when the nation has experienced such terrible devastation from Hurricane Helene,” he continued before adding that it was “truly a service to the American people for all these parties to come together respond to our request to keep ports open.”

“I was determined to avert a crisis at this moment, because it’s a critical moment. If we didn’t do this now, we’d have a real problem,” he said.

Biden also addressed the Bureau of Labor Statistics announcement that the US economy had added 254,000 jobs in September, blowing past expectations after the Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would slash interest rates.

He called the jobs report, which surpassed analyst expectations, one that “far exceeded not only the previous two months,” some “more incredible news” for the economy.

“We were told our American rescue plan was too big and it would crowd out private investment. We proved them wrong,” he said.

The president added he had come into office “determined to end trickle-down economics” and to “grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up,” and he said his policy decisions had worked because “everyone does well” when “the middle class grows.”

“I was also determined to do what was ignored for much too long. Presidents have been authorized since the 30s to be able to spend the money given by Congress to spend the money on hiring American workers using American product where they were available, that’s we did. We were told that was going to be a big problem … but it’s working,” he said.

Biden also noted that “outside experts” have been wrong about his administration’s ability to continue adding jobs to the economy while getting inflation under control without the nation sliding into recession.

“Once again, outside experts were wrong, inflation has come down. Wages have gone up faster than prices. Interest rates are down …the stock market continues to reach new heights. We’ve got more work to do, though,” he said.