On his CNN show First of All on Saturday morning, host Victor Blackwell spoke to two black radio hosts who were granted interviews with President Biden -- Andrea Lawful-Summers of WURD in Philadelphia and Earl Ingram of WMCS in Milwaukee. He asked if the questions they asked were given to them by the White House, and Lawful-Summers said yes.
BLACKWELL: There were essentially the same questions, both interviews, about accomplishments, progress in your respective state, what's at stake in the election, what he has to say about his debate performance? And what he would say to voters who think their vote doesn't matter, or might sit this election out? Were those questions given to you by the White House or did you have or the campaign or did you have to submit questions ahead of this interview?
SANDERS: The questions were sent to me for approval. I approved them.
BLACKWELL: Okay. So the White House sent the questions to you ahead of the interview?
LAWFUL-SANDERS: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Okay.
LAWFUL-SANDERS: I've got several questions. eight of them and the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved.
Blackwell followed up, "And the reason I ask is not a criticism of either of you, it’s just that if the White House is trying now to prove the vim, vigor, acuity of the president. I don‘t know how they do that by sending questions first before the interview so that the president knows what‘s coming."
Traditional journalists typically want to preserve their independence by coming up with their own questions. A candidate's staff might suggest what they would like to discuss, but that's different than sending a list of questions. But anyone who wants to get that presidential interview might accept conditions in advance for the access. We rarely know when that happens.
Blackwell noted that Biden stumbled any way, talking about how he was the first black woman to serve as vice president. Lawful-Sanders was upset that this is the part of the interview that the media highlighted, when Trump is such a threat to the independence of the Justice Department.
LAWFUL-SANDERS: We can't afford to get excited and fumble and fumble about what folks are thinking about this, the President and his frailty and his speeches. We are concerned about the purging of the government in Project 2025.
We've been talking about this on WURD since January, fully and completely the slashing of the Department of Justice and dismantling the FBI, and replacing their traditional independence from political pressure with fealty to the administration. Those are the things that matter to us in the black community.
You know you've found a Democrat when they try to claim the current Justice Department has displayed independence and resisted political pressure from the White House. In reality, the DOJ and these radio hosts both accept orders from Team Biden.