New photos reveal several cheat sheets used by President Biden during his Thursday press conference — including one with the headshots and names of reporters he planned to call on.
The president also used notes to assist with facts about US infrastructure, a policy area Biden is focusing on during his first months in the White House.
“The United States now ranks 13th globally in infrastructure quality — down from 5th place in 2002,” read one bullet point.
But despite having the answers in front of him, Biden still slipped up, saying America ranked 85th in the world in infrastructure, before correcting himself.
The press pool at Thursday’s briefing, the first one held by Biden since taking office 65 days ago, was limited to 25 reporters.
Biden only took questions from a list of journalists whose names and outlets he read from a cue card. A photo of the card shows circled numbers around select reporters.
In the early stages of the 62-minute presser, in which Biden fielded 10 questions, the president appeared to repeatedly lose his train of thought, forgetting questions and asking reporters if they wanted him to give detailed answers.
Many of his responses were aided by notes he kept inside a three-ring binder.
He abruptly wrapped up the press conference, telling reporters, “But folks. I’m going,” without sticking around for a follow-up question.
