On Wednesday, Fox’s Peter Doocy grilled inept and stammering White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre over the Biden border crisis and Jean-Pierre’s concerning comments from Monday that the Biden administration would be “keeping an eye on” and “monitoring” Twitter now that it’s owned by Elon Musk. On the latter, Jean-Pierre offered some weak tea on how “monitoring” simply meant watching the news.
Doocy started with the border and this fable that Biden has visited the border (which has been debunked): “Kevin McCarthy says that he invited President Biden down to the border. How does the President RSVP?”
Jean-Pierre and her fellow liberals in the press corps laughed, but Doocy kept asking: “We know — we know the President has never been down to the border. The possible next speaker says that he wants him to go with him, so is he going to?”
Jean-Pierre twice replied with the lie that he has “been there,” so Doocy interjected to ask “when did he go to the border.”
Naturally, she didn’t answer and insisted Biden has been working since day one “to fix our immigration system and secure our border” while, on the other side, Republicans have shown zero “willingness to work with us on...fixing a situation that's been around for decades now” and instead engaged in “political stunts.”
Doocy pivoted to Twitter and what would be a natural conclusion to the premise that the White House is somehow concerned about Twitter’s safety: “When are you guys going to delete the White House Twitter account?”
Jean-Pierre fell right into his trap and wondered why they’d do that. He then let her know why he asked that: “Well, you're saying that you're keeping an eye on Twitter because it might not be a suitable platform, so why use it?”
Using one of her catchphrases that she “want[ed] to be very clear,” Jean-Pierre argued that, while she didn’t “have anything to share on any policy,” Biden “has been very, very clear in his belief that it is important social media platforms to continue to take steps to reduce hate speech and misinformation.”
Doocy tried one last time with another natural conclusion (which the White House admitted they were doing last year with Facebook on alleged coronavirus disinformation): “When you say that you're going to be monitoring some of the speech on there, if you see something that you don't like, would you try to shut Twitter down?”
Jean-Pierre clownishly thought she could put this to rest with some sarcasm, “I hate to break it to you, Peter, just like everybody else we very much monitor the news.” She continued by reiterating that the White House “pay[s] close attention to everything that you all are reporting and Twitter is in the news a lot and so that's what we're paying attention to.”
She named dropped three far-left, pro-censorship groups (the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Public Health Leaders) as “hav[ing] been very vocal about their concerns” before concluding she “hope[s] that all Americans, including social media companies, civil rights organizations I just laid out, including Fox as well, will agree that we need to...call out hate speech and misinformation.”
The Daily Mail’s Geoff Earle twice tried to return to the border issue. In one question, he inquired if the administration thinks McCarthy’s border invite would be taken “as a good-faith invitation to go” down there.
Of course, Jean-Pierre ducked, saying she wasn’t going to comment any further.
To see the relevant transcript from November 30’s briefing, click “expand.”
White House press briefing [via Washington Post Live]
November 30, 2022
3:22 p.m. EasternPETER DOOCY: Kevin McCarthy says that he invited President Biden down to the border. How does the President RSVP?
[REPORTERS LAUGH]
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: [LAUGHS] To —
DOOCY: We know — we know the President has never been down to the border. The possible next speaker says that he wants him to go with him, so is he going to?
JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, he's been there. He's been to the border and since he took office —
DOOCY: When did he go to the border?
JEAN-PIERRE: — since he took office, President Biden has been taking action to fix our immigration system and secure our border and that's why on day one, he put forward an immigration reform, a piece of legislation to deal with what is currently happening at the border. But you know that we're not seeing that from Republicans. We're not seeing a willingness to work with us on — on, you know, fixing a situation that's been around for decades now. Instead, they're — they’re doing political stunts. That's what they want to do. That's how they want to take care of the situation. But in the meantime, you know, the president has secured record levels of funding for the Department of Homeland Security. We have over 23,000 agents working to secure the border. We've taken thousands of smugglers off the streets, and we're cutting down on asylum processing times and a number of individuals arriving unlawfully from northern Central America and Venezuela is coming down significantly because of the actions that the president has taken.
DOOCY: Okay. On another subject: When are you guys going to delete the White House Twitter account?
JEAN-PIERRE: Why would we do that?
DOOCY: Well, you're saying that you're keeping an eye on Twitter because it might not be a suitable platform, so why use it?
JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I want to be very clear here. The President has always said and he has been very, very clear in his belief that it is important social media platforms to continue to take steps to reduce hate speech and misinformation and he will continue to say that, but media platforms make independent choices about the information that they present and so, look, I don't have anything to share on any policy or any changes that we will be making. We have multiple platforms, as you know, that we utilize to communicate with the American people.
DOOCY: When you say that you're going to be monitoring some of the speech on there, if you see something that you don't like, would you try to shut Twitter down?
JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, you know, when you when you talk about monitoring, you know, it is I hate to break it to you, Peter, just like everybody else we very much monitor the news. We pay close attention to everything that you all are reporting and Twitter is in the news a lot and so that's what we're paying attention to. We're paying attention to what is in the news and what is being reported on the misinformation that's out there. Let's not forget, there's groups like NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Public Health Leaders have been very vocal about their concerns as well. So, yes, we are reading what you all are writing and looking at what you all are reporting about the misinformation that is out there. But, you know, I would hope that all Americans, including social media companies, civil rights organizations I just laid out, including Fox as well, will agree that we need to — you know, we need to — to — you know, call out hate speech and misinformation.
(....)
3:46 p.m. Eastern
GEOFF EARLE: Back on the border for a second. Congressman McCarthy also said that it was the President who brought up the border in the meeting. Is that accurate?
JEAN-PIERRE: I’m not going to go beyond the readout.
EARLE: Did you take it as a good-faith invitation to go to the border or something less?
JEAN-PIERRE: I’m just — I’m telling you right now I’m not going to go beyond the readout that we gave — that we provided yesterday.
