Fox News anchor Bret Baier repeatedly asked Joe Biden campaign national press secretary TJ Ducklo on Thursday if the former vice president “has ever used a teleprompter” during interviews — he never got an answer.
“Has Biden ever used a teleprompter during local interviews or to answer Q&A with supporters?” Baier asked during a segment of Fox News’ “Special Report.”
Ducklo did not answer but instead said the question was “straight from the [Donald] Trump campaign talking points.” (RELATED: ‘Move It Up’: Biden Appears To Struggle With Teleprompter During Virtual Event With AFL-CIO)
Baier responded that the Trump campaign was “using” the issue.
“What it does, Bret, it’s trying to distract the American people,” Ducklo said.
Baier said the issue was a topic of discussion for Trump’s campaign “every day” and demanded that Ducklo “say yes or no.”
The press secretary again dodged the question as Baier said, “you haven’t answered. Yes or no.”
“They talk about it every day because they don’t have a coherent argument for why Donald Trump deserves reelection, deserves four more years. We know that he lied to the American people, we know that he has not shown leadership during this crisis and they are desperate to throw anything they can against the wall to try to distract from that fact,” Ducklo said. (RELATED: Brett Baier Presses Biden Campaign Official On What Biden Would Have Done Differently To Tackle COVID-19)
Baier said he understood Ducklo’s point but stated that the spokesman did not want to answer the question.
“I’m not going to allow the Trump campaign to funnel their questions through Fox News and get me to respond to that,” the press secretary responded.
Former White House stenographer Mike McCormick recently told Fox News that Biden would never have used a teleprompter during his years as President Barack Obama’s vice president.
Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the parking lot outside the United Auto Workers Region 1 offices on September 09, 2020 in Warren, Michigan. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump has accused Biden of using a teleprompter to answer prearranged questions during news conferences and reminded his followers that 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had questions shared with her before town halls and debates.
“Biden was asked questions at his so-called Press Conference yesterday where he read the answers from a teleprompter,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “That means he was given the questions, just like Crooked Hillary. Never have seen this before!” Trump tweeted.