Biden makes first White House press briefing appearance of presidency

• The president hasn't scheduled public events in 43 of the 75 days since he dropped his bid in July, Axios' Alex Thompson and Neal Rothschild found.

What he's saying: Biden applauded the strong jobs report out earlier on Friday, saying: "The past two days, we've gotten some very good news about the American economy."

• He also criticized Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) for writing on X today that the jobs report is "fake."
• "Anything the MAGA Republicans don't like, they call fake, anything," Biden said from behind the podium. "The job numbers are what the job numbers are. They're real. They're sincere."

Zoom in: Biden also said that he's "confident" that the November election will be "free and fair," but added: "I don't know whether it will be peaceful."

• "The things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn't like the outcome of the election were very dangerous," Biden said.

Between the lines: Even before he dropped his bid for re-election, Biden was doing fewer public appearances than his predecessors.

• In July, Biden had done fewer press conferences and media interviews than any of the prior seven presidents at the same time in their term, Axios' Stef Kight wrote from presidential scholar Martha Joynt Kumar's analysis.

Go deeper: The disappearing Bidens: A quiet end to a presidency