White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed at a briefing Monday that (despite appearances) the administration is not “trying to protect” President Joe Biden from reporters by continually shielding him from the media. Per Fox News:
“Is the administration trying to protect the president from our questions? Please answer that question,” one reporter asked Jean-Pierre during the daily White House press briefing after a number of other reporters questioned why Biden had no formal press conferences scheduled, including on his upcoming trip to Ireland.
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” Jean-Pierre replied.
Journos kept pressing the issue, however, demanding to know why Biden never seems to schedule any formal press events. Jean-Pierre delivered one of her famous word salads:
I understand, John. I understand. I understand. I have dealt with this question about three times already. I understand. It is the job of you all to ask this question to me. I totally get that. And that’s not a problem at all.
But certainly the president, many times, has stood in front of all of you, has taken questions on his own because he wanted to see what was on your minds. He wanted to see what the questions you all were going to ask him, and he wanted to answer them directly. That has happened multiple times, many times, during this administration. And that will certainly continue to be.
When it comes to a formal press conference, I don’t have anything to share with you at this time. [Emphasis mine.]
That’s a whole lot of words to basically say, “The president has zero interest in doing a press conference anytime soon.” Asked whether Biden will do will formally talk to the media during his upcoming trip to Ireland, Jean-Pierre hemmed and hawed and claimed the matter was really out of the administration’s hands because another country was involved. Blaming other world leaders is a tactic she’s used before, as RedState‘s Nick Arama reported.
Karine Jean-Pierre says she has no clue if Biden will hold a press conference, or speak to the press, during his trip to Northern Ireland pic.twitter.com/DbcUG2EZN0
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 10, 2023
Things really turned funny, however, when KJP laughably claimed that Biden was transparent because he answers so many queries from yelling reporters:
…I’ll say this, it’s unprecedented that a president takes as many shouted questions as this president has.”
An audible groan arose. Listen to the reporters in the background growl “No!” to her claim:
Karine Jean-Pierre says it's "unprecedented that a president takes as many shouted questions as this president has."
Reporters groan in unison at the absurdity of her statement. pic.twitter.com/A4g5sIU9ch
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 10, 2023
Jean-Pierre just laughed off their concerns.
Okay. Well, we’ll certainly get the data and share that with all of you … I hear you. I hear you on the press conference, on a formal press conference. We get this probably every couple of months when you guys ask us about a formal press conference. [Emphasis mine—why do you think you keep getting asked this, Karine?] I don’t have anything to share with all of you at this time.
And I’ll just leave it there.
I remember remarking to a colleague when Jean-Pierre was new to her position that she looked absolutely miserable at the podium. That however has noticeably changed—now she giggles a lot and barely seems to be taking the job seriously. She treats the reporters like little children.
This is far from the first time the White House press corps has clashed with her over Biden’s lack of availability:
Reporters Rip Into WH for Not Answering Questions, Then WH Stiffs Them Again
In fact, the issue goes as far back as her predecessor, former Press Secretary Jen Psaki:
Jean-Pierre wasn’t done though, issuing a pathetic, dissembling answer on whether Joe Biden will ever visit the disaster-stricken community of East Palestine, Ohio:
Karine Jean-Pierre STILL can't say when (or if) Biden will visit East Palestine, Ohio — 66 days after the toxic train disaster and 39 days since Biden promised he’d visit “at some point.” pic.twitter.com/3pmwhvzvBw
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 10, 2023
We deserve better than this from this president—and from his spokesperson.
