The White House press briefing returned Thursday for the first time in eight days and, along with questions about the zero interactions between the press and outgoing President Biden during his six-day trip to South America, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre embarrassed herself with meandering, stumbling answers about both her successor Karoline Leavitt in the second Trump administration and layoffs inside the Democratic Party.
CNN’s M.J. Lee had a blunt question about Biden and the press, which Jean-Pierre predictably scoffed at:
CNN’s @MJ_Lee: “At this point, with two months left in the administration, does the White House see a real value in President Biden directly engaging with members of the press?”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 21, 2024
KJP: “Oh, absolutely, yes. Um — look, I think we have worked really hard and I hope you all have seen… pic.twitter.com/Xvniz5nloW
In a follow-up Lee explained why she asked what she did: “If all of that is true, why on a six-day foreign trip where the President obviously had a robust American press corps traveling with him, did he not have a single engagement whether it is a press conference or maybe just speaking on the tarmac or really anywhere where he took questions from the press?”
Jean-Pierre’s defense? Well, Biden really wanted to spend as much time as possible “engaging and — and listening, having that one-on-one engagement” with world leaders.
Lee unsuccessfully tried one last time, seemingly incredulous: “Just to be clear, you mean the explanation is that he — on this trip was extra busy meeting with world leaders because this is one of his, you know, last foreign trips?”
This bled into a second line of questioning about the sincerity of Biden’s drumbeat (along with his party) that President-Elect Trump is a danger to democracy and that Americans should take action on this:
CNN’s @MJ_Lee: “[I]t's been, you know, more than two weeks — uh — since the election. This was an election that elected a man that President Biden has repeatedly referred to as an existential threat. So, why is it that the American people have not heard President Biden talk about… pic.twitter.com/6u0Pex62qD
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 21, 2024
Later in the briefing, Bloomberg’s Jenny Leonard fact-checked this insistence Biden was too busy:
Bloomberg’s Jenny Leonard [@Jendeben]: “— I was on the South America trip and I just want to know —”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 21, 2024
KJP: “Yeah.”
Leonard: “— if your explanation was that he was engaging with leaders? There was quite a bit of downtime and, of course, opportunities on the tarmac, which he has… pic.twitter.com/O4ML4Njy4z
McClatchy’s Michael Wilner had a simple question about whether Jean-Pierre has spoken to Leavitt. Click the tweet to see the monstrosity of an answer that she managed to stretch a simple no into nearly 90 seconds of mumbling and stumbling:
McClatchy’s Michael Wilner: “Have you spoken to your named successor [@KarolineLeavitt], and if so, what advice do you have for her?”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 21, 2024
KJP: “Oh! I — I didn't know that was where you're going! Um — following up, I didn't see — I didn't think it was that follow up. Um — look — uh —… pic.twitter.com/7mHJOdl8fB
theGrio’s April Ryan — who would be near the top of any hypothetical list of potential leading Leavitt adversaries — followed up on Leavitt by whining about how “there was a period of time where we had no press briefings” during the first Trump presidency (especially under the tenure of Biden-Harris supporter Stephanie Grisham, but we digress) and whether Jean-Pierre would be upset if things changed:
April Ryan: “I want to follow up on the person who's going to take your place [@KarolineLeavitt].”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 21, 2024
KJP: “Oh, goodness.”
Ryan: “When Donald Trump was president the first time, there was a period of time where we had no press briefings. In the space that you're in — in this… pic.twitter.com/EsoxQ47CYx
Fox’s Mark Meredith closed things out with two stinging topics. First, he brought up a possible case of the Biden-Harris regime working to preemptively undermine a Trump-Vance border policy:
Fox’s @MarkPMeredith: “New York Post is reporting that ICE is quietly loosening some of the restrictions on how migrants would have to follow the asylum procedure. Basically, they would have to do the physical check-ins with, you know, Customs Border Protection. The former head… pic.twitter.com/TUKnLal4fn
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 21, 2024
The other topic concerned unions and, in Doocy-like fashion, used a solidified administrative policy stance (or, as is often the case, a remark or statement) to ask a hardball. This one hit close to Biden as it concerned a unionized workforce:
Fox’s @MarkPMeredith: “The President has talked so much about being the most pro-union president ever. This week, the DNC staff union put out a pretty scathing note, saying that so many DNC staffers have gotten laid off, no severance. They were shocked. I'm just curious, from an… pic.twitter.com/G27EN3jAZ7
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 21, 2024
Jean-Pierre wasn’t amused by Meredith’s final question: “Does it look bad for the Vice President to go Hawaii while DNC staffers are just wondering what they’re going to do for work?”
A disgusted Jean-Pierre packed her binder, telling him that Harris “deserves some time to be with her family and to have some down time” after having “worked very hard over the last four years[.]”
“Good for her. Good for her,” she concluded.
Going back to the beginning of the briefing, NBC’s Monica Alba asked about the transgender bathroom hubbub at the Capitol:
NBC’s Monica Alba: “And what is the White House view on Speaker Johnson saying that he will bar transgender women from using Capitol bathrooms as something that Congresswoman Nancy Mace has clearly raised in regards to Representative-Elect Sarah McBride?”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 21, 2024
KJP: “So, I would — um… pic.twitter.com/jkEsfl9ZD7
To see the relevant transcript from the November 21 briefing, click here.
