A new MRC study by Bill D'Agostino found that of 337 Biden-scandal questions asked of White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in the second half of 2023, only eight (2.38 percent) drew an answer instead of a maddening deferral or a blatant refusal to answer.
Bill joins the show to discuss the consistency of KJP's stonewalling, and his generous definition of an actual answer. His eight answers included lame defenses of Biden: "I’m just going to quote him and say, 'It’s malarkey.'” But that's an actual attempt at rebuttal, instead of endlessly referring all inquiries to the White House Counsel's office, which also wasn't answering.
The answer was meant to be a dead end, so you'd avoid that street. Or you received preposterous claims in response to softball questions, like "The Department of Justice is independent."
About two-thirds of the questions were about Biden's improper holding of classified materials in his garage and at the Penn Biden Center. Out of 220 questions, the Press Secretary concretely answered five all year (2.27 percent).
The baggie of cocaine found in the West Wing on the evening of July 2 was the sole focus of scandal-related questions for the first half of July. Reporters asked a total of 30 questions about the cocaine across five briefings from July 5 to July 17. KJP would not give a concrete response to a single question.
Enjoy the podcast below, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
