Joe Biden promises freedom for jailed WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich at White House Correspondents Dinner

President Joe Biden promised to free Americans unjustly held overseas — including Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter arrested last month in Moscow — during his remarks at the Whi🙈te House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday.

While Biden spent much of his speech cracking jokes, he began on a serious note, telling hundreds of journalists in the crowd his commitment to bring home wrongfully detained journalists and other Ame🍷ricans.

During his speech, Biden addressed Gershkovich’s family directly, who was in the crowd at the dinner: “We all stand with you,” to roaring applause.

“Evan went to report Russia to shed light on the darkness that you all escaped from years ago. Absolute courage,” Biden said to the family, who immigrated from Russia.

The black-tie annual gathering of journalists and Washington insiders gave Biden, 80, his first major public platform since he announced his re-election campaign on Tuesday — and a chance to drop some comedic one-liners on an appreciative crowd✃.

Biden took several shots at himselfܫ, making light of complaints that he doesn’t take enough questions from reporters.

“In a lot of ways this dinner sums up my first two years in office. Talk for ten minutes, take zero questions and c🅘heerfully walk away,” he joked.

“I know I just announced my re-election campaign. Some of you scooped that I’d announced in the video,” he said. “But really in all our hearts you thought I just blurted it out, didn’t you?”

Theꦫ president also joked about his age, taking some shots at the media.

“Call me old? I call it being seasoned. You say I’m ancient, I say I’m wise. You say I’m over the hill  — Don Lemon would say that’s a man in his prime,” he joked about the recently fired CNN anchor, who drew heat for insinuating that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was past her prime to run for president.

Biden took a few cracks at Republicans as well, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — whom he could potentially be running against in 2024.

“I had a lot of Ron DeSantis jokes ready,” Biden said, stumbling. “But Mickey Mouse beat the hell out of him when he got there first,” he said referencing DeSantis legal war with the Walt Disney company.

“Can’t be too rough on the guy,” Biden continued. “After his reelection as governor, he was asked if he had a man-date. He said ‘Hell no, I’m straight.’”

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy caught some of Biden’s flak.

“You all keep reporting my aꦓpproval ratings at 42%. But i think you don’t know this — Kevin McCarthy called me and said ‘Joe, what the hell is your secret?’ I’m not even kidding about that one.”

“The speaker tried to claim a big win this week, but the last time the Republicans voted on something that was hapless if took 15 tries,” he said, taking a dig at McCarthy’s protracted confirmation as speaker.

Before he left the podium, Biden turned to the evening’s headliner, stand-up comic and “The Daily Show Host Roy Wood Jr.” who was due up next. He said to him “I’m gonna be fine with your jokes, but I’m not sure about Dark Brandon,” referncing a popular meme about himself.

Wood Jr. walked out to the podium, picked up some papers there and called Biden back: “I think you left some of your classified documents up here,” he quipped, alluding to secret papers found in the president’s private offices.

“I’m well aware that not everybody in this room knows who I am, so lets address the elephant in the room,” he continued. “I know what it is.  Half this room think I’m Kenan Thompson, the other half thinks I’m Louis Armstrong. President Biden thinks I’m the daddy on Family Matters.”

The dinner raises money annually for scholarships for students looking to pursue a career in journalism. Wood Jr. joked that this year’s top scholarship recipient was “Arizona State senior George Santos,” roasting the New York representative with a penchant for lying.

“George couldn’t be here tonight, he’s auditioning for Ru Paul’s drag race,” he said. “We say good luck to you, George. Sashay away.”

The comedian ꦡalso joked about the historic arrest of Donald Trump in Manhattan last month, which he found underw🦂helming.

“Can we all be honest and just say that the Trump arrest didn’t hit like we thought it would? … The Trump arrest was like a pot brownie you ate for hours ago, and you’re like ‘Is this justice? It doesn’t feel like justice?'”