A top Fox News reporter is being criticized for his “dishonest” and “mindless attack” suggesting President Joe Biden wasn’t working much on Monday as world leaders are speaking to each other and with their national security teams about the war in Israel.
“With war raging in Israel, the @WhiteHouse called a lid for @JoeBiden at 11:46am,” Fox News anchor John Roberts, a former White House correspondent under three administrations, said on social media Monday.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates pushed back, explaining: “For those unfamiliar, a ‘lid’ is just a courtesy announcement to reporters that they should not expect public events.”
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“A lid does *not* mean the President has stopped working, as is implied in the *Fox* tweet below,” he added. “On the contrary, he’s working to support Israel all day.”
Bates attached a portion of the President’s actions Monday, which included meetings with Secretary of State Tony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood- Randall, and White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients.
New York Times DC correspondent Glenn Thrush responded to Roberts’ remarks, saying: “Lids, in my experience, are just as likely to indicate increased activity inside a WH. They are a gauge of public events, briefings etc and not governing activity…”
Howard Fineman, the veteran political journalist added: “Yes he works for @FoxNews, but this guy has been around a long time so he surely knows that a daytime ‘lid’ doesn’t mean no activity behind closed doors at the #WhiteHouse, it generally means more. This is pure, mindless attack-Biden-at-all-costs garbage.”
“A small thing,” noted Talking Points Memo publisher Josh Marshall, “but yet another illustration of the mode and consequences of the most watched news org in the country routinely lying to viewers. Just as a matter of course. Comes naturally.”
Obama and Reagan official White House photographer Pete Souza called it “such a reckless tweet intended for one purpose: to misinform the maga crowd. A lid does not mean the president isn’t working; just that there are no imminent public events (so reporters can leave to get lunch and know they won’t miss anything).”
Former TV news director, producer, and journalism professor Jennifer Schulze called Roberts’ remark “a ridiculous cheap shot. John was a white house correspondent for years so he knows exactly what a ‘lid’ is & what it’s not.”
If Roberts’ remark was meant to inflame the base, it was successful.
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) responded from his official social media account.
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