Joe Biden, Karine Jean-Pierre Get Signals Crossed on Baby Formula Crisis in Staggering Show of Incompetence

We’ve written often about how President Joe Biden relies so heavily on his handlers to play clean-up when he screws up in public, even though a new report claims it angers him when they rush to “clarify” his gaffes, flubs, and in some cases dangerous declarations.

But what happens when not even Biden’s handlers can explain away statements that indeed make him not only look bad but also disturbingly out of touch with the issues facing average Americans every day?

We found the answer out on Wednesday when both Biden and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre were asked in separate instances about the White House timeline for who knew what and when about the baby formula crisis.

For several weeks now, we’ve been told by senior White House comms officials from then-press secretary Jen Psaki as well to then-deputy press secretary Jean-Pierre that Biden was on top of the matter since the White House allegedly first learned about the shortage (February), though Psaki conveniently stopped short at the time of giving a definitive timeline for when Biden himself specifically learned about it.

But during a virtual meeting Wednesday with baby formula manufacturers, Biden point-blank admitted he was not made aware of the issues until “sometime in early April”:

President Joe Biden said Wednesday he wasn’t alerted that the nation faced a looming shortage of baby formula until April, though executives of baby formula manufacturers said they sounded the alarm to retailers two months earlier.

[…]

After the 50-minute meeting, Biden repeated, “I don’t think anyone anticipated the impact of the shutdown of Abbott facility,” minutes after manufacturers said they anticipated a shortage.

“They did, but I didn’t,” Biden said, adding that he wasn’t made aware of the problem until early April. “We did everything in our power from that point on. That’s all I can tell you right now. And we’re going to continue to do it together.”

Watch:

Biden: “I became aware of this problem in early April”

It took Biden until May 13 to first mention the baby formula crisis. pic.twitter.com/N0lfVpWDa5

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 1, 2022

Reporter: Why didn't you move quicker on the baby formula shortage?

Biden: "I don't think anyone anticipated the impact of the shutdown of Abbott facility."

Reporter: "Didn't the CEOs just tell you they understood it would have a very big impact?"

Biden:"They did but I didn't" pic.twitter.com/ei2e1N5mkY

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 1, 2022

Jean-Pierre was asked during the daily press briefing sometime during or after Biden’s meeting about his remarks, and it was obvious that she was caught off-guard by Biden’s answer. She tried instead to spin Biden’s admittedly belated response to the crisis as a “whole of government approach,” and at one point talked about how Biden just has a lot on his plate right now, so let’s not be too hard on him, you know?:

Reporter: "When was someone called here at the White House and say the [baby formula shortage] is a problem?"

Jean-Pierre: "I don't have a timeline on that. All I can tell you, as a whole of government approach, we have been working on this since February." pic.twitter.com/AoPoV7P8b5

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 1, 2022

“Who is the person in the West Wing who decided after 6-8 weeks that this baby formula shortage was finally something that somebody should tell the president about?”

Jean-Pierre: "I have to talk to the president" pic.twitter.com/7EgW5g3ccr

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 1, 2022

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: "Look, the president has multiple issues, multiple crises at the moment…" pic.twitter.com/n18lUikXoj

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 1, 2022

Are you freakin’ kidding me? This is the best they’ve got?

This is a major issue that obviously impacts millions of families and the health of their children, and contra to their blame games and claims to have been on top of it since February, the Biden White House was largely MIA until well after it reached crisis levels, even though manufacturers had been raising the issue for months.

Officials at the highest levels of government need to answer for this, and the best way for voters to do it will be at the ballot box come November. In fact, the level of incompetence on display by this administration on this issue is so mind-blowing that it wouldn’t surprise me if the Republican gains in the House and Senate come fall reach historic levels. It’s really just that bad – and sadly there appears to be no end in sight. I mean, you know it’s gotten bad for Biden when not even his paid handlers can get him out of jams of his own making.