White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre hasn’t been very good at answering questions about Joe Biden’s classified documents scandal. Indeed, she’s been positively awful in response, getting called out by reporters now repeated for lack of transparency and telling them false things. As I reported on Tuesday, Jean-Pierre cracked after not being able to keep the story straight.
On Wednesday, she finally realized that it was a losing cause and tried to tell the reporters that they had to ask either the Department of Justice or the White House Counsel’s office.
"So to be clear, from this point on are you not going to be taking questions about the classified documents?"
Karine Jean-Pierre: Pretty much pic.twitter.com/bQUKPplXlP
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 18, 2023
The problem is those questions would not be at a live briefing, so it doesn’t allow the American public to see those answers. Moreover, those agencies are not necessarily forthcoming either in answers to questions. So that means essentially she’s trying to punt and avoid any questions, and the American people are being cut off. Yet, she’s still trying to claim the White House is being transparent.
A reporter made it clear that her question was about White House procedures, not anything related to the DOJ case or the White House counsel, and KJP refused to answer it, saying she needed to ask the White House counsel.
REPORTER: "To be clear, my question is about procedures here at the White House…"
KJP: "To be clear, I'm going to refer you to the what my colleagues at the White House counsel's office." pic.twitter.com/h1n26iVxHw
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 18, 2023
Reporters tried to ask — if she was going to play that game — if could she get a DOJ person there to answer their questions. Nope, you don’t have a right to that.
.@JacquiHeinrich: "Would you invite a DOJ official to take our questions here?"
KJP: "No. You would have to go to the Department of Justice." pic.twitter.com/bLMuYKtS66
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 18, 2023
REPORTER: "Because they can't witness it happening live, American don't get the same transparency into this back-and-forth!"
KJP: "He spoke to all of you reporters who report on this, and then you all reporter on it back to the American people. I believe that is transparency." pic.twitter.com/z8Ndi5Ab5l
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 18, 2023
KJP also said that they’d talked to the White House counsel’s office on the phone so she wasn’t going to get anyone from that office to a briefing to answer the White House reporters’ questions.
REPORTER: "Would you commit to having the White House Counsel come here and take questions?"
KJP: "They did a 45 minute call with many of your colleagues. Somebody here had said 30 minutes, but it was not. It was actually 45 minutes. They miscounted." pic.twitter.com/0ODcuSkiEC
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 18, 2023
A reporter asks her if she thought it was proper for Joe Biden to comment on an “ongoing DOJ investigation” when he claimed President Donald Trump had been “irresponsible” with classified documents.
Q: Biden "chided Former President Trump for having in his possession classified documents. He called it irresponsible…Do you think it was proper for President Biden to comments on an ongoing DOJ investigation?"
KJP snaps as the reporter after refusing to answer his question. pic.twitter.com/3rJlkVuXxa
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 18, 2023
Any time she says, “I’m going to say this,” prepare for the deflection/spin. But then she refused to respond, saying it’s an “ongoing investigation.” So, it’s fine to comment on Trump if it’s an ongoing investigation, but she wouldn’t comment on Biden or comment on whether Biden’s comments about Trump are proper, because of an “ongoing investigation.” They take the cake for hilarious hypocrisy in their effort not to be transparent. Of course, the whether or not she thinks it’s “proper” what Joe Biden said isn’t part of an ongoing investigation. She never answered the question while claiming she did.
How bad was KJP losing it after all this? She did a “Joe Biden” and called Kamala Harris “President.”
Taking after Joe Biden, KJP seems to refer to Kamala Harris as "the president." pic.twitter.com/7S69H6Ceat
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 18, 2023
“This Sunday, the president will speak about the fight to secure women’s fundamental right to reproductive healthcare in the face of these attacks,” Jean-Pierre said, without recognizing what she said. “She will talk about what’s at stake for millions of women across the country and most importantly, the need for Congress to codify the protections of Roe into law.” She also attacked “ultra Maga Republicans,” accusing them of trying to roll back women’s rights.
When you’re the “press secretary,” you’re supposed to be cleaning up the words of your bosses, not making your own mistakes and making things worse. But I guess she’s just following Joe’s lead, he’s called Kamala president so many times.
It just keeps getting worse and they don’t seem to be able to figure their way out of it.
Story cited here.
