Biden accidentally flashed a cue card telling him exactly where to go and what to do at a White House event

Mia Jankowicz
·3 min read
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President Joe Biden, background, holding a cue card at a meeting with leaders on offshore wind energy on June 23, 2022
President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting about offshore wind at the White House June 23, 2022.Drew Angerer/Getty Images

  • Joe Biden accidentally revealed his cue card for a White House meeting, with very simple instructions.

  • They included "YOU take YOUR seat" as well as an instruction to say hello to the guests.

  • Cue cards are common, but right-wing commentators treated this one as a serious gaffe.

President Joe Biden accidentally revealed a cue card at a White House meeting on Thursday, offering a glimpse of very simple instructions for the process of the meeting.

Biden gave remarks in the Roosevelt Room to a gathering of state governors about a partnership with 11 states to speed up the growth of the offshore wind industry and its domestic supply chain in the US.

The photographer documenting the event captured one of the documents Biden used during the meeting: a cue card titled "The President" with the title of the event, followed by bullet-pointed instructions seemingly for Biden.

A photo of the list, which is somewhat blurry, can be seen below:

A close-up of the cue card held by Joe Biden at a meeting with wind energy leaders in the White House on June 23, 2022
A close-up of the cue card held by Joe Biden at a meeting with wind energy leaders in the White House on June 23, 2022. Image cropped by Insider.Drew Angerer/Getty Images/Insider

The full list of the instructions reads:

  • "YOU enter the Roosevelt Room and say hello to participants."

  • "YOU take YOUR seat. "

  • "Press enters."

  • "YOU give brief comments [...]" This note was partially blocked by Biden's finger.

  • "Press departs."

  • "YOU ask Liz Shuler, President, AFL-CIO, a question. Note: Liz is joining virtually."

  • "YOU thank participants."

  • "YOU depart."

It is not unusual for a leader's press team to produce a memorandum of events, including instructions for the speaker. The White House press office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment early Friday.

But the simplicity of the instructions — which included "YOU depart" at the end — caused speculative comment among Biden's political opponents, including far-right former presidential advisor Steven Miller.

Miller tweeted, in reference to the card: "There need to be emergency hearings next year on 25th amendment," the amendment referring to the removal of a president who is incapacitated. There is no evidence that Biden is incapacitated.

Right-wing news outlets also treated Biden being seen with such a list as a serious gaffe, with top figures at The Daily Caller, the Daily Wire, and satire site the Babylon Bee commenting on it.

A general view of attendees at a meeting about offshore wind energy, with President Joe Biden at the head of the table, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on June 23, 2022
President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting about offshore wind at the White House June 23, 2022.Drew Angerer/Getty Images

At the event, Biden stuck with his oft-repeated stance connecting renewable energy to the economy: "When I think 'climate,' when I think 'environment,' I think 'jobs,'" he said.

In March 2021, the Biden administration announced a goal of producing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. By doing this, the administration says it will produce 77,000 jobs and will avoid 78 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.

"The last administration tried to block offshore wind because they thought it might cause cancer. Not a joke," said Biden on Thursday, in reference to comments made by former President Donald Trump in 2019 alluding to a long-debunked conspiracy theory.

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