At Monday's White House press briefing, the incompetent diversity hire press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took fire from all sides over President Biden’s ineffectiveness to push his agenda through Congress and his lack of focus on the issues that matter to the American people. First out of the gate was CBS News Radio’s Steve Portnoy who chastised KJP over Biden’s lack of engagement in the left’s war on the Second Amendment in light of a recent shooting in Texas.
“The President’s position is known, but can you describe his engagement on this crisis today? What’s he doing about it today?,” Portnoy asked. “Because many Americans, they’re certainly happy to hear that he’s engaged on airline prices and airline compensation, but what about this issue that many Americans agree with you is a crisis?”
“The President has signed more than a dozen executive actions to deal with this issue, more than any other President,” KJP responded. “This is a President that has worked on this issue as a Senator, as Vice President, and as President. He has done everything that he can, using the tools that are in front of him, to deal with this issue,” she proclaimed.
Later on, CNN’s Jeremy Diamond similarly hit KJP and Biden from the left: “after the Louisville shooting in April, the President, as he did yesterday, called on Congress to ban assault weapons. He made clear, as you just did now, that this is a crisis, and he pointed to the previous executive actions that you just talked about.”
“But we didn’t really see anything else from the President. So if this is a crisis, why aren’t we seeing the President talk about this more forcefully? Why isn’t he out around in the country rallying people, putting pressure on members of Congress? When are we going to see that kind of engagement?,” Diamond asked.
Like she normally does, KJP was prepared with one answer and continued repeating it almost verbatim no matter how many times she was asked: “more than two dozen executive actions that he’s taken, more than any other President,” she repeated like a broken record.
Diamond jumped back in to ask what exactly is Biden doing other than demanding Congress pass gun control: “Other than saying in these statements after every mass shooting, ‘Congress needs to do this,’ what is the President doing to actually get Congress to act?”
“Because we don’t see, from a public-facing perspective, much other than these statements as of late. And the President himself has said that he believes he’s reached the extent of his executive authorities,” Diamond asked.
KJP robotically answered that “Congress needs to act” and Biden is “using his bully pulpit.”
Then came the best moment of the briefing when Fox News Channel’s Jacqui Heinrich asked KJP why Biden is talking about random issues when there are multiple crises on his plate.
“You have laid out all the things that the White House wants to tackle, from the country careening toward a debt limit crisis, to, you know, the southern border preparing for up to 12,000 illegal crossings a day, potentially, after Title 42 ends this week. You opened the briefing talking about the crisis of gun violence,” Heinrich said, before asking “Why is the President talking about meal vouchers for canceled flights and holding a movie night at the White House with all those things going on?”
“Because he’s President, and there are multiple things that the President do- — does. And he can talk about the potential manufactured crisis that House Republicans have put forth and that could happen if they don’t get back to regular order. He can talk about how he’s delivering for families,” KJP snarked.
“But he talked about, you know, Memorial Day flights, but that’s three weeks away from now. He said, you know, preparing, looking ahead to Memorial Day Weekend,” Heinrich noted. “So it causes the question of, you know, is the President really focused on today’s biggest issues when everyone in here is asking about Title 42, the debt ceiling, mass shooting over the weekend, and we didn’t hear the President talk about any of those things.”
To read the relevant transcript click “expand”:
White House press briefing
5/8/2023
3:14:23 p.m. EasternSTEVE PORTNOY: You referred to this — when it comes to guns, you said this is a “crisis.” You talk about it being 201st first mass shootings this year. The President’s position is known, but can you describe his engagement on this crisis today? What’s he doing about it today? Because many Americans, they’re certainly happy to hear that he’s engaged on airline prices and airline compensation, but what about this issue that many Americans agree with you is a crisis?
JEAN-PIERRE: Well, many Americans should know and understand — and hopefully — and I’ll repeat it here — that the President has signed more than a dozen executive actions to deal with this issue, more than any other President, in a historical fashion, because he has said that gun violence is an epidemic. He has said that; he has called it that. This is a President that has worked on this issue as a Senator, as Vice President, and as President. He has done everything that he can, using the tools that are in front of him, to deal with this issue.
Now, will there be more work to do and more things that he can do? We’ll see. We’re always looking for how do we move this along to a way — to a place where our schools are safer, our communities are safer. This is so incredibly important. We — you know, I mentioned, you know, 14- — more than 14,000 of our fel- — fellow citizens have lost their lives. One is too much. One person losing their life is too much. And so, look, the President has done the work. He’s asking Congress to do their job. Let’s do some legislation — more legislation — on top of the bipartisan legislation that he was able to sign this summer. So let’s do more. Let’s really do something that we can make sure that this is long — no longer an epidemic in our — in our communities and in our schools.
Go ahead.
JEREMY DIAMOND: Thanks, Karine. After the Louisville shooting in April, the President, as he did yesterday, called on Congress to ban assault weapons. He made clear, as you just did now, that this is a crisis, and he pointed to the previous executive actions that you just talked about. But we didn’t really see anything else from the President. So if this is a crisis, why aren’t we seeing the President talk about this more forcefully? Why isn’t he out around in the country rallying people, putting pressure on members of Congress? When are we going to see that kind of engagement?
JEAN-PIERRE: More than two dozen executive actions that he’s taken, more than any other President — more than any Pre— other President. He’s been in the administration, as President, for a little bit more than two years. Two dozen actions that he’s taken. He’s had to visit — we’re about to, sadly, have the anniversary of the Buffalo shooting, and then Uvalde. Two places that the President went to comfort the families who were — who lost their children and who lost their loved ones. And from there, he continued to do the work.
He signed — we signed — he signed, as I mentioned to Steve, as you all know and covered, a bipartisan — bipartisan piece of legislation, the Safer Communities Act. So this is a President that has taken action. And the sad part — and I get the questions that are coming to me, as they should be; I am the spokesperson for the President. But where’s Congress’s responsibility on this? Where’s their responsibility on this? We need legislation. It is frustrating — and I am sure you all are frustrated too — to talk about this over and over again, one — averaging out to once — one mass shooting a week. That’s not okay.
DIAMOND: But I guess the question is: Other than saying in these statements after every mass shooting, “Congress needs to do this,” what is the President doing to actually get Congress to act? Because we don’t see, from a public-facing perspective, much other than these statements as of late. And the President himself has said that he believes he’s reached the extent of his executive authorities.
JEAN-PIERRE: Right. That’s right. Congress needs to act. He’s using his bully pulpit. He’s being very, very clear — talked about it during the State of the Union, talked about it many times before — about the horrors of gun violence in our community, in our schools, in our temples, in our places of worship. As we continue to see, this is a President who has been incredibly vocal — and not just him; the Vice President, the First Lady. I mean, Jeremy, I appreciate the question, but Congress has to act. There has to be legislation coming from the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue. There has to be. Two dozen pieces of executive action in two years that this President has done. Historic. That is historic.
So, you know, look, I want the American people to know that this is an epidemic that — as they know themselves, some of them having suffered potentially gun violence in their community or in their families. This is a President that cares about making sure that their communities are safe and they feel safe with their kids going to school. So we’re going to continue to use the bully pulpit. He’s going to do that to call out Congress. And they have to act.
[...]
JACQUI HEINRICH: Thank you, Karine. The President — you know, you have laid out all the things that the White House wants to tackle, from the country careening toward a debt limit crisis, to, you know, the southern border preparing for up to 12,000 illegal crossings a day, potentially, after Title 42 ends this week. You opened the briefing talking about the crisis of gun violence. Why is the President talking about meal vouchers for canceled flights and holding a movie night at the White House with all those things going on?
JEAN-PIERRE: Because he’s President, and there are multiple things that the President do- — does. And he can talk about the potential manufactured crisis that House Republicans have put forth and that could happen if they don’t get back to regular order. He can talk about how he’s delivering for families. I think the airlines announcement that the President made is incredibly important to American families across the country. I hope you think so as well. I mean, when you think about what — what American families have to pay out of pocket because of things that are not their fault — this is important.
You asked me many times what the President is doing to lower cost for the American people. We just heard from the President. So that is one way that he is using and making sure that the administration works for American families. He should talk about that. He should talk about those things. He should be able to do multiple things as a President, and that’s what you’re seeing from him today.
HEINRICH: But he talked about, you know, Memorial Day flights, but that’s three weeks away from now. He said, you know, preparing, looking ahead to Memorial Day Weekend. So it causes the question of, you know, is the President really focused on today’s biggest issues when everyone in here is asking about Title 42, the debt ceiling, mass shooting over the weekend, and we didn’t hear the President talk about any of those things.
JEAN-PIERRE: Regular American families — everyday families are thinking about Memorial Day Weekend. They are. They’re thinking about how are they going to travel with their family, with their kids. They care about what the President said today. So that does matter.
Title 42 — what’s happening on Thursday, the lifting of Title 42, we’ve been talking about it over and over again for the past several weeks, about how we’re preparing for the lift of Title 42, the programs that we put in place without the help of House Republicans or House — Republicans in Congress more general. And the debt limit — something that we’ve been talking about for months — again, a manufactured crisis. There is a process here. Republicans are refusing to use the process. They —
HEINRICH: I just hear (inaudible) a disconnect —
JEAN-PIERRE: — are refusing to use the process.
There’s no disconnect.
HEINRICH: —between him being the —
JEAN-PIERRE: No —
HEINRICH:— the uniter-in-chief and you guys —
JEAN-PIERRE: There’s — there’s no —
HEINRICH: — “calling out,” as you always talk about it.
JEAN-PIERRE: There’s no — there’s no disconnect. There’s no disconnect. It is very clear. The President can do multiple things at the same time. He can call out ways that the American people are being harmed — harmed by not — Congress House Republicans refusing to do the job that they’re supposed to do — something that they have done, Congress has done more broadly 78 times since 1960. Yes, he’s going to call that out. That’s regular order to do your job, to do your constitutional duty. And then talk about what we’re doing to make it a little bit easier for American families to travel. Yeah. You know what? Some regular folks — regular folks are thinking about Memorial Day. Some everyday Americans are thinking about how they’re going to visit their grandparents, how they’re going to visit family members, how are they going to get around the country around Memorial Day weekend. That is incredibly important to American families.
