White House aides provided questions in advance for Biden's radio interviews

Two radio hosts who interviewed President Joe Biden this past week were provided questions in advance from White House aides, according to one of the hosts.

Andrea Lawful-Sanders, who hosts a show called “The Source” on WURD in Philadelphia, said the White House aides gave her a list of eight questions before the interview on Wednesday.

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

“I got several questions — eight of them,” she said. “And the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved.”

WURD has attempted to distance the station management from Ms. Lawful-Sanders actions. They said in a statement published on their website that they have parted ways with her over her handling of the matter: 

"On July 3, the first post-debate interview with President Joe Biden was arranged and negotiated independently by WURD Radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders without knowledge, consultation or collaboration with WURD management. The interview featured pre-determined questions provided by the White House, which violates our practice of remaining an independent media outlet accountable to our listeners. As a result, Ms. Lawful-Sanders and WURD Radio have mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately."

The Biden campaign scheduled interviews for two radio programs with large black audiences as part of their effort at damage control following his widely panned debate performance the previous week on CNN, according to DNYUZ.

In the interview with Ms. Lawful-Sanders, Biden appeared confused, saying that he was proud to have been “the first Black woman to serve with a Black president.”

He gave an equally confused answer when he appeared on “The Earl Ingram Show” on WMCS in Milwaukee. Ingram was also on Victor Blackwell’s show on CNN. Blackwell noted that the four questions Ingram asked were almost identical to the ones Ms. Lawful-Sanders asked. Ingram did not dispute how she described the questions were selected.

A spokeswoman for the Biden campaign said it is “not uncommon” for the campaign to recommend topics, adding that officials “do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions” by the interviewer.