Two radio interviewers revealed that questions posed to President Biden this week were provided in advance by White House aides. Andrea Lawful-Sanders from WURD in Philadelphia stated that she received a list of eight questions ahead of her interview, which she approved. Four of these were chosen for the interview.

The Biden campaign confirmed sharing preferred topics but emphasized that interviews were not conditioned on accepting these questions. Lauren Hitt, a campaign spokeswoman, highlighted Biden’s unscripted engagements since the debate to showcase his ability to handle public scrutiny.

“The questions were sent to me for approval; I approved of them,” she told Victor Blackwell, the host of “First of All” on CNN. Asked if it was the White House that sent the questions to her in advance, she said it was.

“I got several questions — eight of them,” she said. “And the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved.”

Despite this practice being frowned upon by journalists, Biden still stumbled over some answers during the interviews. For instance, he mistakenly referred to himself as “the first Black woman to serve with a Black president” in one exchange. In another instance on “The Earl Ingram Show,” Biden gave a somewhat disjointed response about voting matters.

Victor Blackwell, hosting CNN’s “First of All,” expressed surprise at the preapproved questions. He noted similarities between Lawful-Sanders’ and Ingram’s questions, raising concerns about how the White House’s approach could demonstrate Biden’s readiness for the campaign.

“That’s where we always — we gave Donald Trump executive — a power to to use a system — and it’s just never contemplated by our founders because of the people he appointed to the court,” he said, appearing to stutter several times, a condition he has struggled with since he was a child. “It’s just presidential immunity. He can say that I did this in my capacity as an executive, it may have been wrong, but I did it. But that’s going to hold — because I — and this is the same guy who says that he wants to enact revenge.”

Both radio hosts affirmed Lawful-Sanders’ account of question selection, with Blackwell questioning the effectiveness of this strategy in proving Biden’s sharpness and readiness.