This has not been a good week to be the White House Press Secretary, and that Karine Jean-Pierre is so bad at her job has only exacerbated the issues. She has had no answers to the scandal swirling around Joe Biden’s illegal possession of classified documents, and Thursday’s briefing boiled over into outright combativeness.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t just Fox News’ Peter Doocy that she got into it with. Other reporters, like CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe drew her anger as well. None of it was a good look for an embattled White House.
Jean-Pierre gets into an incredibly testy exchange with CBS News' @edokeefe:
O'Keefe: "There is going to be a limit of transparency of what can be shared by this White House."
Jean-Pierre "There has not been a limit of transparency" pic.twitter.com/Qu4zPOGEHI
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 12, 2023
Notably, or not so notably if you know her, Jean-Pierre is lying. There has clearly been a limit to the transparency they are always bragging about, and the reporters in the briefing room weren’t buying what she was selling. They hammered her on why the White House kept all this quiet for two months and misled the press about how many troves of classified documents had been “found.”
"Do you acknowledge that the fact that the White House did not reveal this to the public despite the fact that you've known about it for months undercuts the president's promise of being transparent?"
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: No pic.twitter.com/5Jxg8IxkbJ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 12, 2023
REPORTER: "How can you say this was transparent when you've sat on this information for more than two months?"
KJP completely ignores the question. pic.twitter.com/wf5hNBUiJF
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 12, 2023
The White House can’t claim that they were transparent, when they knew about these classified documents prior to the election and sat on that information. They certainly can’t claim to be transparent when it took that information being leaked (apparently, by the DOJ) to get the White House to even acknowledge any of this. Jean-Pierre, like many on the left, has no concept of what words mean. She simply says what she prefers and twists language to fit her narrative.
Eventually, Peter Doocy entered the conversation, and the tension continued. He asked her when the administration was going to release the visitor logs from Biden’s Delaware residence, where the second trove of classified documents was found. Instead of making that simple commitment, Jean-Pierre spun in circles, talking about the Trump administration and claiming they restored the visitor logs for the White House.
The only answer Jean-Pierre has when Peter Doocy asked if they will release the visitor's log from Biden's Delaware house is that they reinstated the log at the White House. She cuts Doocy off and says "I'm calling the gentleman who wants to ask a question not related to this." pic.twitter.com/B4ONSL1hu2
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 12, 2023
Jean-Pierre got so flustered that she began ignoring Doocy, calling on another reporter “who wants to ask a question not related to this.” Naturally, he obliged in changing the subject, though no one else in the room seemed too happy about it.
There was one exchange that really stuck out to me, though. While being pressed on the matter of the classified documents, Jean-Pierre made this peculiar claim.
Jean-Pierre: "We released a statement this morning on what was found last night."
What documents were found last night? pic.twitter.com/WYVycrJWKO
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 12, 2023
Is Jean-Pierre admitting that more documents were found that we don’t know about? Because the second trove at Biden’s home was found on December 20th, 2022, not last night. AG Merrick Garland revealed that during his presser that occurred a few hours before this briefing.
The answer is that she’s probably just getting her lies mixed up. The statement put out “this morning” made it seem as if the entire second trove of documents had been found the night prior. Garland’s presser showed that was misleading at best, and she just hasn’t updated her talking points.
Jean-Pierre is not a woman who does well under pressure. She’s struggled with her job in the best of times, and in the face of a room of reporters no longer kissing her feet, she can only lash out. For the first time since Biden took office, it feels like the press has finally had enough. We’ll see if that continues or if they revert.
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