April 16 (Punjab Khabarnama) : President Joe Biden was spotted with a crib sheet with scripted comments to the press during an Oval Office sitdown with the prime minister of Iraq, Mohammed Shia’a Al-Sudani, on Monday, April 15. Biden referred to the script to make his first public statement since Iran’s attack on Israel. The script included an all-caps stage direction on when he would need to pause in his comments so an interpreter could translate.
Biden was seen looking down at the script several times while sitting beside Al-Sudani. Iraq’s prime minister, however, did not seem to depend on any kind of note cards, according to New York Post.
Meanwhile, Biden on Saturday, April 13, also extended US support to Israel during a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It has been reported that Biden has urged Netanyahu to temper responses to Iran’s attack, as he believes the conflict may escalate quickly.
“The United States is committed to Israel’s security. We are committed to a cease-fire [between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip] that will bring the hostages home and prevent the conflict from spreading beyond what it already has,” Biden said during his remarks on Monday.
History of using note cards
This is not the first time Biden was seen leaning on a note card. He was spotted using a card in April 2023, which seemed to include a question from a reporter before Biden asked the journalist to ask him questions. He is also believed to have used note cards for private fundraisers.
Meanwhile, the foreign minister of Iran recently claimed that the nation had informed the US before the attack was launched on Israel. “Early Sunday in a message to the White House we announced that our operation would be limited and minimalistic and aimed at legitimate defense and punishing the Israeli regime,” Hoeein Amirabdollahian said, according to The Mirror.
“In our response, we defined no response against civilian targets. Our armed forces targeted no economic or populated areas,” he said. He added that the goal of the attack was to “punish” Israel.