I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: To be a good White House press secretary, you need to be a highly skilled liar. The cream of th...
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: To be a good White House press secretary, you need to be a highly skilled liar.
The cream of the crop will bob and weave, dodge and divert, make it seems like they’re answering a question while saying nothing at all. But President Joe Biden’s flack, Karine Jean-Pierre, while a big, fat liar whose pants are clearly on fire, is not at all skilled in the art of mendacity that her predecessors possessed.
On Friday, KJP got hammered by reporters — and this time, even the renowned Peter Baker of The New York Times got his brethen’s backs when Biden’s spokesman just flat-out refused to answer questions.
The daily briefing’s questions centered on new information from IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who told members of Congress that Hunter Biden once threatened Chinese business associate Henry Zhao by saying his father was sitting right next to him and that Zhao would “regret not following my direction.”
Jean-Pierre tried to divert (as she often does) by putting White House National Security Council John Kirby at the podium first. But when it was her turn, Newsmax’s James Rosen, formerly of Fox News (and a guy who can do a spot-on impersonation of Howard Cosell) asked about Biden’s previous claims that he knew nothing of Hunter’s business dealings.
After Rosen got nowhere, Baker jumped in. “Can I follow up on that? So Kirby wouldn’t answer James’ question though, are you gonna’ answer the question? It’s not an unreasonable question to ask when the president of the United States was involved, as this message seems to suggest, in some sort of coercive conversation for business dealings by his son. Is that something? If he wasn’t, maybe you should tell us,” he said.
“I appreciate the question. I believe my colleague at the White House counsel has answered this question,” Jean-Pierre said, referring reporters back to the Department of Justice and Kirby. Now, covering the White House for a dozen years, I know that diversion — those guys don’t talk. What’s more, reporters were simply asking Biden’s flack about what he did, a question KJP should be able to answer.
For the first time in a while, reporters got each other’s backs. The New York Post’s Steven Nelson followed up, asking Jean-Pierre to answer his colleagues’ questions after she claimed she had.
“No, you didn’t: Yes or no, was the president involved in the shakedown attempt?” Nelson asked.
“Steven I just answered the question … It’s not up to you how I answer the question,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that her answer was that the White House counsel have responded to the question (they haven’t).
Rosen then popped back in, asking if Jean-Pierre stands by her declaration that Biden had no knowledge of Hunter’s foreign business dealings. “Nothing has changed,” she said.
KJP tried to shut it all down, calling on another reporter, this time from the friendly mainstream media. But CBS News’ Weijia Jiang asked the same question.
“To follow up on what my colleague was saying in regard to this text message and what the president’s son was alleging: Was the president there or not?”
“I would refer to my colleagues at the White House counsel,” Jean-Pierre said.
Then another MSM reporter followed up. “Karine, have you spoken to the president about this? Have you asked him whether he was there with his son on July 30th — ” NBC News’ Monica Alba began before Jean-Pierre cut her off.
“This is not a conversation I’ve had with the president and again, I’d refer you to the White House counsel.”
“Do you plan to have that conversation with the president?” Alba followed up.
“No,” Jean-Pierre said.
And there you have it. The White House will not be held to account by the Fourth Estate charged with holding the powerful to account.
Time to fire Karine Jean-Pierre.
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