White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre snapped at reporters during Wednesday’s press briefing over repeated questions about Pr...
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre snapped at reporters during Wednesday’s press briefing over repeated questions about President Joe Biden’s classified document scandal.
“Can you tell us if there’s any sort of assessment … to determine if national security has been jeopardized at all?” a reporter asked Jean-Pierre.
Jean-Pierre responded, “That’s for the Department of Justice.”
“Why?” the reporter asked.
Jean-Pierre snapped back, “It’s not your decision to make on what I can or can’t answer from here.”
Jean-Pierre also brushed aside calls for greater transparency from the administration over the status of the investigation.
One reporter noted how the media keeps getting passed around to different entities to get answers to their questions and that each entity passes the buck to someone else.
“I’m sure you can understand that we’re in a sort of information blackout,” the reporter said. “If you are not able to talk about [the classified documents] from the podium, would you invite a DOJ official to take our questions here?”
“No,” Jean-Pierre responded.
Jean-Pierre claimed that Biden has committed to not interfering in ongoing investigations from the Department of Justice, even though Biden commented on the DOJ’s criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump.
The reporter then asked Jean-Pierre if she would commit to having the White House special counsel come to the briefing room to answer reporter’s questions.
Jean-Pierre did not answer the question.
Jean-Pierre also got into it with another reporter who asked about Biden commenting on the investigation into Trump.
“I want to reference an interview that President Biden did in mid-September with ’60 Minutes,’” the reporter said. “And in that interview, he chided former President Trump for having in his possession classified documents. He called it irresponsible.”
“First of all, do you think it was proper for President Biden to comment on an ongoing DOJ investigation?” the reporter asked.
“So, I’m gonna say this, and we’re gonna keep it really short today, as it relates to this particular issue, as it relates to an ongoing legal matter,” Jean-Pierre responded. “I’m going to refer you to Department of Justice with that specific as it relates to anything that you want to ask of us about this legal matter, I would refer you to the White House counsel office.”
“I’m going to leave it there,” she continued. “Not going to go into further.”
“I’m simply asking you to comment on the person that you work for,” the reporter responded.
“I just, I just commented,” she claimed. “I just commented. We’re moving on.”
“Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead,” Jean-Pierre said to another reporter as she frantically tried to get out of the situation. “No, go ahead.”
“I already answered your question,” Jean-Pierre said to the reporter whose question she did not answer.
“You really didn’t,” the reporter responded.
“Well, I did,” she insisted.
“No, you didn’t —” she responded.
“Well, it’s your, it’s your opinion,” she claimed. “It’s your opinion. It’s your opinion.”
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