Biden makes first White House press briefing appearance of presidency

President Biden appeared on Friday at the White House press briefing for the first time of his presidency, touting the economy hours after the Labor Department's strong jobs report was released.

The big picture: The president's surprise appearance came after Axios reported earlier Friday that he's been increasingly less visible in public since suspending his bid for re-election.

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."