Since the election, Fox News has done its best to find a scandal to sink the administration of President Joe Biden. The most recent claim is the accusation he'll use a teleprompter.
On Fox Business, Stuart Varney discussed the possibility of Biden using a teleprompter to answer questions during a press conference.
This was discussed in response to a scenario proposed by contributor Joe Concha.
The Biden administration signaled they will hold their first press conference on March 25. When speculating about how Biden may not have his feet held to the fire, Concha insisted reporters need to ask tough follow up questions.
He then asked Varney how Biden was going to answer these questions when Varney gave his response.
He said:
"I do believe there will be a teleprompter there, which he can just turn on when you need the set response. That would not surprise me at all."
The internet was surprised this issue is what they tried to turn into a scandal.
It's not completely surprising conservatives turned this into a talking point. Even while on the campaign trail, there were accusations Biden couldn't make it though a fluff interview with talk show host James Corden without a teleprompter guiding him.
These claims are rapidly debunked, but the idea continues to spread in right-wing circles.
Varney's ideas don't exactly have a high standard of precedent, as he was previously known for claiming former president, Donald Trump never lied to the American people. This claim was made in 2019, nearly three years into almost daily easily debunked lies from Trump.
So a biased viewpoint is to be expected.
The room the press conferences are held in is often shown on camera. It's not exactly large enough the administration could hide a teleprompter without the reporters knowing it was there.
To cover his bases, Varney also theorized there would be Biden staffers planted in the reporter pool, instructed to ask specific questions they know Biden can answer. Which, again, reporters would easily be able to spot.
All of these claims were offered without any kind of evidence.
Biden's first press conference will be held on March 25. He's waited longer for his first formal presser than previous administrations.
However, this has been explained as he's been informally answering questions at the end of other events, and is kept a little bit busy with cleaning up the mess the previous administration made of the response to the worldwide pandemic.
@lordye/Bluesky
