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Ricardo Moraes

MANAUS, Brazil — President Joe Biden was in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/17/president-biden-amazon-rainforest-brazil-climate-change/" target=_blank>middle of the Amazon rainforest</a>, unprotected from mosquitoes, fire ants and loud, squawking macaws. But there was another pest he did manage to avoid: the pack of reporters traveling with him.

For a short speech in front of about two dozen people, the journalists were initially instructed to watch Biden on a flat-screen television placed amid sand and lush trees as the president spoke about 50 feet away, though they were eventually moved closer. As Biden finished his remarks, maracas rattled by a local group prevented him from hearing reporters’ shouted questions about Ukraine.

During a six-day foreign trip to Peru and Brazil that wrapped up Monday, the president rarely spoke in public, answering almost no questions despite repeated efforts to engage him. One television producer took to writing messages on a large pad of paper, holding it up as Biden boarded and departed Air Force One.

“Xi?” one said, a silent request that Biden discuss his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/16/biden-xi-meet-one-last-time/" target="_blank">meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping</a>. “Ukraine???” read another, amid reports the president had <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/11/17/ukraine-russia-north-korea-atacms/" target="_blank">authorized the firing of long-range U.S. weapons</a> into Russia.

Since Donald Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election, Biden has not taken questions about what he had repeatedly called the most important election in history, one he warned would change the country forever if Trump prevailed.

Biden <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/07/biden-speech-nation/" target=_blank>did address the nation from the Rose Garden</a> two days after the election, confining himself largely to congratulating Trump, promising a smooth transition and touting his own accomplishments in office. “I’ve said many times you can’t love your country only when you win,” Biden said. “You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree.”

Since then, Biden has not spoken publicly on whether he has regrets about dropping out of the race. He has not responded to those who suggest he bears some responsibility for his party’s loss because he did not withdraw sooner. He has not fully articulated whether he still believes Trump poses an existential threat to democracy — and, if he does, why he so cheerfully welcomed the former president back to the White House.

They are topics, perhaps, that he could illuminate in the weeks to come or in memoirs yet to be published.

For now, Biden is apparently attempting to live his best life after a contentious presidency and a half-century in public service. His daughter Ashley and granddaughter Natalie joined him on this trip to South America. So did former senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut), his good friend.

Rather than linger in Brazil after the Group of 20 summit he had come for, as Xi did for a state visit, Biden left quickly and was home in time for his birthday on Wednesday, when he turns 82.

In other seize-the-moment moves in recent weeks, Biden hosted the other leaders of the “Quad” — Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese of Australia, Narendra Modi of India and Kishida Fumio of Japan — at his house in Wilmington, Delaware, rather than in a more formal or elaborate setting.

Biden also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/17/biden-germany-trip-ukraine-nato-legacy/" target=_blank>visited Germany for about 24 hours</a> to receive the country’s highest honor, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, which is reserved for heads of state. And he has an upcoming trip to Angola, honoring a promise he had made to visit Africa before leaving office.

Biden often does not hide what he thinks. “No one ever doubts I mean what I say,” he says regularly. “The problem is, I sometimes say all that I mean.” But lately he appears to be holding back.

When he enters or leaves Air Force One, he at times no longer glances toward the reporters shouting at him to answer questions. When cameras were rolling at the G-20, he often hurried through his prepared remarks in a monotone voice.

“I have much more to say,” he said at one session — then he stopped himself. “I’m not going to.”

It has been an awkward few weeks for Biden, as he is forced to grapple with a legacy that has been dented and the potential judgment of history that he failed to steer his party — and the country — out of the Trump era for good.

Biden has been warning for years that Trump is a dire, perhaps unique, threat to America. He oriented much of his final return to public life around stopping Trump, only to see him return to power in the end.

And on his last trip as president to international conferences of the sort he appears to relish, most of his discussions with his counterparts have been overshadowed by Trump.

Biden did not publicly mention Trump during the trip, and his aides say the incoming president was not a frequent topic in his private meetings. But Trump’s approaching second presidency loomed over the summits in Peru and Brazil as Biden sought to rally his fellow leaders around defending Ukraine and fighting climate change — two causes for which Trump has shown little enthusiasm.

The leaders gathered here were eager to meet with Trump. But they sometimes seemed to be looking past Biden.

On Monday, Biden raised eyebrows when he — along with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — missed a group photo of the assembled leaders. Biden had not managed to make it on time, and the other leaders did not bother waiting.

A White House official attributed his absence to “logistical issues,” saying the photo was taken early. Brazilian Minister of Communications Paulo Pimenta on Wednesday suggested that Biden was simply late.

“Brazil is like this,” he said, adding a Portuguese expression about punctuality: “When it’s time, it’s time.”

There was another group photo on Wednesday, and Biden took his place in the front row toward the center.

Leah Millis

On the flight to Peru from Washington, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was pressed on why Biden was not planning to hold a news conference, which is customary during such trips. Biden himself has almost always held news conferences toward the end of international summits.

“He often — regularly takes questions from all of you, and he is going to continue to engage with the press,” Jean-Pierre said. “And so, what I would say is, stay tuned.”

When he did speak during the six-day trip, Biden’s remarks were often brief. His speech in the rainforest stretched for seven minutes, his longest of the trip.

The only time he responded to shouted questions was during a meeting with the leaders of South Korea and Japan. A reporter asked how the nations would address North Korea, and Biden responded, “Peacefully.”

Andrew Bates, senior deputy White House press secretary, suggested that Biden may have more to say in the weeks before he leaves office.

“President Biden engages with the press extensively — including through over 630 Q&amp;As in office and over 50 interviews this year — as he leads the most transparent administration in American history,” Bates said in a statement. “He looks forward to future exchanges with the media, including interviews, as he continues to deliver more progress for hardworking Americans every day of his term.”

He said any maracas that were shaking during the rainforest event and drowning out reporters’ questions “had nothing to do with the press. Glad y’all enjoyed Brazil!”

At times during the summits, Biden appeared wistful. Aides said that at the end of a nearly two-hour meeting with Xi, the two leaders put aside their notes for a more reflective moment between two men whose relationship goes back more than a decade.

In some of his remarks, Biden urged other leaders to continue working on the issues they collectively care about. He noted that this was his last summit.

“The world’s forests are some of the most powerful and valuable tools in the fight against climate change,” Biden said Tuesday morning. “Once they’re gone, it’s hard to get them back.

“History is watching us,” he added. “I urge us to keep the faith and keep going.”

White House Correspondents' Association's Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House Coverage, 2023

Gerald R. Ford Journalism Award for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency, 2021

White House Correspondents' Association's Merriman Smith Award, recognizing presidential news coverage under deadline pressure, 2016

Finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists for national reporting, 2014

Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress, 2013, "Broken City" series

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Matt Viser is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. He joined The Post in October 2018, covering the midterms and the 2020 presidential election before moving over to the White House to cover President Biden's administration. He was previously deputy chief of the Washington bureau for the Boston Globe.

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