White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been having a tough time over the past couple of days dealing with the question of the visits of neurologist Dr. Kevin Cannard to the White House.
There were some wild moments on Monday with journalist Ed O'Keefe where KJP and O'Keefe got into a shouting match. O'Keefe was asking about the Jan. 17 meeting Dr. Cannard had with Joe Biden's doctor, the White House physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, as well as Cannard's other visits to the White House. KJP refused to comment on whether that meeting or those visits pertained to Biden. All she would say was that he saw a neurologist as part of his physicals for the past three years.
The question came up again during the White House briefing on Tuesday as well. During the briefing, KJP said definitively that the Jan. 17 meeting did not relate to care for Joe Biden.
But now the AP's Seung Min Kim who asked that question above is reporting that they have received a statement from Karine Jean-Pierre saying that the Jan. 17 meeting was about Biden, despite the fact that she had "inaccurately said" it wasn't earlier in the day.
“Because the date was not mentioned in the question, I want to be clear that the Jan. 17 meeting between Dr. O’Connor and Dr. Cannard was for the President’s physical,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement to the AP on Tuesday. “It was one of the three times the President has seen Dr. Cannard, each time for his physical. The findings from each exam have been released to the public.”
So wait. She was specifically asked if the Jan. 17 meeting was related to Biden and she denied it. Now, she's trying to claim because the "date was not mentioned in the question" that somehow that was confusing or she couldn't tell the truth? Is she kidding? But apparently it's all just the media's fault for not understanding her.
The Story of Parkinson's Neurologist's White House Visits Gets More Involved
As Kim noted in her story, this is the second time in the past week where KJP has been caught having to "clarify" something because what she said previously was false/misleading.
Last week, Jean-Pierre said Biden “did not get checked out by the doctor” for a cold that was noticeable during the June 27 debate. But Biden later said in a private meeting with Democratic governors that he had been checked out by his doctor after the debate concluded. Jean-Pierre said she meant Biden did not get a full medical exam and that the president did indeed have a “check-in” with his doctor, which he does a couple of times a week.
So are they going to hold her accountable tomorrow for this lie? Even now, after admitting they've been told falsehoods twice, it's still just "inaccurately said." They need to drop the hammer on her in the briefing for this because at this point why would anyone believe anything she has to say about anything?
"Karine Jean-Pierre inaccurately said"
— Sunny (@sunnyright) July 10, 2024
If only there was a single word to describe when someone says something that person knows is not true. https://t.co/qpSkT1tMB9
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