The 2020 Democratic presidential race is still young. But, one candidate is definitely emerging as the front-runner. The latest Morning Consult weekly tracking survey showed former Vice President Joe Biden had an impressive 40 percent support. Biden’s nearest competitor, Senator Bernie Sanders came in a distant second with only 19 percent.
As the front-runner, Biden will undoubtedly face numerous attacks from both his fellow 2020 Democratic presidential competitors and President Donald J. Trump. Known to be gaffe prone, many pundits are sitting back with bated breath in anticipation of a Biden misstep. Obviously, Biden and his staff understand the importance of this moment. And, due to his past, shielding the former Vice President from an onslaught of media scrutiny might be in his best interest.
According to TheBlaze, Biden’s overzealous staff might be taking things a bit too far. The conservative media outlet reported that the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate’s staff has been accused of physically blocking media from accessing or photographing the man they support.
Several accounts have surfaced of Biden’s staff physically hindering journalists from simply doing their jobs. Marcus DiPaola, a freelance videographer, claimed Biden aides treated him and other members of the press corps poorly during a campaign event in Iowa last week. DiPaola went to Twitter to make his accusations known. He maintained that a campaign staffer reportedly asked one reporter to leave. Supposedly, the campaign aide also took a picture of the journalist. Another reporter insisted a Biden staffer “physically invaded their space” in attempt to block them from the former Vice President. A third journalist was also physically denied access to the candidate by one of his aides. This individual supposedly put her arms in front of the reporter’s camera.
“Biden staffers ‘tried to remove’ the media from ‘what appears to be a public lot,’ while the campaign moved the candidate’s motorcade three times in an attempt to dodge questioning,” DiPaola said.
So far, none of the unnamed journalists the freelance videographer mentioned in his tweets have publicly come forward. Actually, they all refused to respond when Fox News reached out to them. A Twitter follower asked DiPaola to expose the journalists’ identities and respond why the individuals didn’t provide their own accounts of the accusations. Answering the inquiry, DiPaola tweeted, “Getting this question a lot. The answer is some of them cover Biden regularly and don’t want to jeopardize their relationship with the campaign. Some have to get permission from their employers to speak on-the-record. I’m a freelancer. I’m a nobody. I can tweet whatever I want.”
Fox News revealed that these occurrences certainly aren’t the first accusations of Biden’s staffers “interfering with the work of the media.” When the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate was vice president, his office issued an apology to a journalist for demanding he get rid of pictures taken at an event in 2013. According to Capital News Service, the reporter was a student at the University of Maryland, College Park and a credentialed member of the press. The individual was covering a domestic violence event attended by Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and United States Senator Ben Cardin, Democrat – Maryland.
Regarding the puzzling instance, the student said, “The event began and I took a few photos of each speaker. People a few rows in front of me were also taking photos.” Once the event concluded, a Biden staffer allegedly asked the reporter if he took any pictures.
When he replied in the affirmative, the Biden aide reportedly stated, “I need to see your camera right now” and referred to the student’s presence in the non-press area an “unfair advantage” over other media members at the event. The Biden aide then asked to watch the student deleting the pictures from his camera. As if this wasn’t intrusive enough, the Biden staffer then asked the reporter to show her his iPhone to ensure none of the photos had been saved.
Two years before this incident, a Biden spokeswoman reportedly apologized to a journalist who was told by aides to stay in a storage room while waiting for Biden, who was vice president at the time, to arrive for a speech.
~ Liberty Planet
