Mr. Biden opened his act with comments about Mr. Gershkovich and other Americans held overseas. “Everyone in this hall stands with you,” the president said, addressing Mr. Gershkovich’s family, who was in attendance. “We’re working every day to secure his release, looking at opportunities and tools to bring him home. We keep the faith.”
He also mentioned Austin Tice, a journalist held in Syria for nearly 11 years, and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine serving a 16-year prison sentence in Russia on what the United States says are fabricated charges of espionage. Mr. Biden pointed in the audience to Brittney Griner, the W.N.B.A. star freed in a prisoner swap in December after being detained for nearly 10 months in Russia. “Boy, I can hardly wait to see you back on the court, kid,” he said.
Mr. Biden’s supportive comments about a free press contrasted sharply with those by President Donald J. Trump, who constantly called reporters “enemies of the people” and their reports “fake news.” But Mr. Biden gingerly acknowledged his own reluctance to engage with the reporters who cover him other than in passing. He has given fewer news conferences per year than all but two presidents since Calvin Coolidge and fewer interviews than any modern president. Alluding to this, Mr. Biden said his dinner speech would be like his press interactions: “I’ll talk for 10 minutes, take no questions and cheerfully walk away.”
He made a few passes at Mr. Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, his would-be Republican challengers. Mr. Biden joked that he had created 12 million jobs “and that’s just the lawyers” defending Mr. Trump. As for Mr. DeSantis, the president said, “After his re-election as governor, he was asked if he had a mandate. He said, ‘Hell no, I’m straight.’”
Mr. Biden went after congressional Republicans as well. Telling dinner attendees to be safe, he said, “If you find yourself disoriented or confused, it’s either you’re drunk or Marjorie Taylor Greene.” Noting that his approval rating stands at 42 percent, he said, “Kevin McCarthy called me and asked me, ‘Joe what the hell’s your secret?’”
The featured comedian of the evening, Roy Wood Jr., a correspondent on the Comedy Channel’s “The Daily Show,” poked gentle fun at Mr. Biden. As he followed the president to the podium, Mr. Wood held up papers and told Mr. Biden, who faces a special counsel investigation into the mishandling of secret papers, “I think you left some of your classified documents up here.”
