WATCH: Joe Biden’s Staff Give First Question to Atlantic Reporter, Who Asks About Trump’s ‘Soul’

Joe Biden’s campaign kicked off a round of questions with the candidate Friday by selecting an Atlantic reporter who asked him to comment on President Donald Trump’s “soul and the life he leads.”

Biden, who rarely answers questions from the press, opened the floor to questions immediately after his remarks on the August jobs report, which showed the U.S. economy added 1.4 million jobs in August.

He deferred to his staff to choose the reporters who would be allowed to ask questions. The first reporter was Edward-Isaac Dovere of The Atlantic.

Dovere strode to the microphone and asked about an article in The Atlantic, published the night before, that claimed the president had referred to American soldiers who died in the First World War as “losers” and “suckers.”

(The claims, based on anonymous sources, have been vigorously disputed by all those who were there — including former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who opposes Trump’s re-election.)

Dovere asked: “When you hear these remarks — ‘suckers,’ ‘losers,’ recoiling from amputees — what does it tell you about president Trump’s soul, and the life he leads?”

Thanks for watching. https://t.co/ecVkqViixz

— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) September 4, 2020

Biden, who had opened his press conference referring to The Atlantic piece, resumed his attack based on the article, “if it’s true.”

He cited Trump’s criticism of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in 2015 as reason to believe that Trump had disparaged soldiers who had died defending their country.

The reporter followed up with a question about QAnon conspiracy theories, and invited Biden to address Trump supporters who might believe them.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.