In the first White House press briefing since June 18, the press corps on Tuesday showed in nearly an hour-long marathon of questioning that not only do they smell blood in the water regarding the Joe Biden presidency, but also (at least some) showed cowardice in suddenly pivoting from years of what could be the largest cover-up in U.S. history in Biden’s mental impairment.
Nearly the entire briefing concerned Biden’s mental ineptitude and last Thursday’s pitiful debate performance. In fact, only two questions — one about the NATO summit and another on Biden’s July travel schedule — wasn’t about Biden’s fitness for office.
The Associated Press’s Colleen Long kicked off with a fairly pedestrian request for a “response to” “growing calls from Democrats…for the President to step aside”.
This gave the ever-inept Karine Jean-Pierre room to run with a lengthy response doubling down on the narrative about Biden having “a cold” and “hoarse voice” and that the White House “understand[s] the concerns”, but won’t quit because “he knows hot to come back”
Long then opened the floodgates and told her “part of the problem that you — uh — Democrats are articulating is that it wasn’t just that he had a cold, but rather he had, you know, answers — he was trailing off” and “didn’t answer some questions — uh — in a — in a sort of fulsome way.”
CBS’s Weijia Jiang (in the above photo) had one of the more disturbing exchanges when she pressed Jean-Pierre on whether Biden was on any medications and if he’s recently had “a neurological scan” (click the tweet to see the transcript):
CBS’s @Weijia Jiang: “You just reminded us that President Biden had a cold on Thursday. What medications was he taking in the days or hours leading up to the debate?”
KJP: “And I can — I know that question has come in a couple of times, so as he was not taking any cold… pic.twitter.com/3Or5OfBQRy
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 2, 2024
In a follow-up, she told it like it is: “Okay, well, you continue to say it was just a bad night, but is there an explanation then for why it was so bad, if it’s not his DNA, if he prepared, as you guys say, for — for so long, if it’s not a problem with his mental fitness, what happened that night? What did we see?”
Perhaps the question of the briefing that could be one for the history books came from NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, one of the regime’s more reliable hacks: “Is anyone in the White House hiding information about the President’s health or his ability to do the job day to day?”:
When Jean-Pierre said they’re not hiding anything, O’Donnell correctly followed up about having Biden’s doctor give a press conference and noted Biden’s subsequent appearances have been largely scripted:
NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell: “Is anyone in the White House hiding information about the President’s health or his ability to do the job day to day?”
KJP: Absolutely not.”
O’Donnell: “Given the fact that it’s more than a bad night when his political future is threatened, would he be… pic.twitter.com/X5j1J6W64c
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 2, 2024
O’Donnell also asked about new reporting that convicted felon and walking disaster Hunter Biden “has been in some meetings with senior advisers”, which Jean-Pierre dismissed as happenstance since Hunter was with his dad over the weekend at Camp David and the Fourth of July is Thursday.
ABC’s Rachel Scott went next and honed in on former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) comments about it being legitimate to wonder about Biden’s health. Not surprisingly, Jean-Pierre wouldn’t engage and stuck to her talking points about a cold.
Since this wasn’t going anywhere, Newsmax’s James Rosen interrupted: “Is he disabled? Is the President disabled?”
Jean-Pierre wasn’t amused: “No! No! And let me — let me finish with your colleague, please. And I know, but shouting out — come on. You know better, you know better. Come on, James.”
Since Jean-Pierre said Biden “had a cold”, Reuters’s Steve Holland wondered if he “still” does. Jean-Pierre changed her story, saying he’s still ill.
Another longtime Biden tool has been CNN’s M.J. Lee. Based on these questions about why should anyone trust what the Biden medical team is saying, she seems intent on jumping ship to Team Kamala:
CNN’s @MJ_Lee: “Uh — you’ve said a couple of times now that the White House has provided thorough medical records for the President. The White House released a six page summary back in February. I don’t think that was a full accounting necessarily. Um — and Dr O’Connor, in that… pic.twitter.com/QhLYggiuHW
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 2, 2024
This back and forth continued with Lee demanding more medical records be released and a hardball from the left lobbying for Harris.
The dam continued to break with Bloomberg’s Justin Sink vocalizing the idea that Team Biden’s being “arrogant” to not see a need for any “changes” and then making sure a press conference Jean-Pierre announced for next week would be a solo endeavor.
Finally, it was Jacqui Time. The Fox senior White House correspondent tore into Jean-Pierre for her behavior during the June 17 briefing when she called “clips showing the President appearing to be confused, freezing at times” were “cheap fakes” and “even implied that it was the product of artificial intelligence”.
Like a fervent liberal, Jean-Pierre said she had zero regrets:
JACQUI TIME: “The administration strongly criticized the media for clips showing the President appearing to be confused, freezing at times, and you called it cheap fakes, misinformation —”
KJP: “Yep.”@JacquiHeinrich: “— disinformation —”
KJP: “Yeah.”
Heinrich: “— in one… pic.twitter.com/3MOlCDwApg
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 2, 2024
Heinrich followed up with the reality that these dismissals extended gaslighting with print stories, such as this June 4 tome from The Wall Street Journal, and difficult topics for the regime like Afghanistan, the border, and inflation.
The New York Times’s Michael Shear — who’s had a few surprising tangles in these four years — inquired about The Times’s then-breaking story about Biden showing increasing signs of mental decline and how can she say Biden’s sharp when over 50 million Americans saw differently.
Following ABC producer Molly Nagle pulling down curious answers about whether Jean-Pierre was surprised at Thursday night and if Biden has spoken to Harris, USA Today’s Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy reasked Jiang’s medication question. Once again, Jean-Pierre would only state he’s not taking any “cold medicine”.
Liberal reporter Andrew Feinberg of The Independent picked up on Rosen’s question as, after a query stating for the good of the order that Biden’s events since Thursday have been contained and mostly scripted, he went with the A-word:
Does President Biden, at 81 years old, have Alzheimer’s, any form of dementia, or degenerative illness that cause these sorts of lapses, and it’s a yes or no question. And if you don’t know, why don’t you, as one of his senior staff members, know that? It’s a yes or no answer.
“I have an answer for you. Are you ready for it? It’s a no. And I hope you’re asking the other guy the same exact question,” she scoffed.
Skipping ahead, McClatchy’s Michael Wilner fact-checked Jean-Pierre comparing Biden’s epically bad debate to Barack Obama bombing in the first 2012 debate with the reality that Obama was 51 years old then and Biden’s 81.
Wilner took time away from questions that often bash, say, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to also jump ship with a hardball. This left Jean-Pierre stammering and all out of sorts (click “expand”):
WILNER: The issue — I think the core issue here is that you can’t turn the page on age.
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.
WILNER: Age and decline is a one way street. So — so —
JEAN-PIERRE: But — right.
WILNER: — at the end of the day —
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.
WILNER: — you know, these are the questions you’re getting now. What are the questions you’re gonna be getting in two years or three years?
EAN-PIERRE: I have thoughts about that about two or three years from now, but, um — look —
WILNER: How can you or anyone say that you have confidence that he can be in this job at that time.
JEAN-PIERRE: — look, here’s — here’s what I would say to that We are not turning the page on age. That’s not what we’re doing. We understand. We get that, right? The President said. I am not a young man. He said that. We get that. We understand how the American people feel. What we want to continue to do is deliver for the American people. That’s what — that’s what we want to see. Uh — that’s what the President wants to do. And that’s the turning of page. Let’s continue on the successes on the unprecedented successes of this President has had and on — on — and on issues that majority of Americans care about health care, economy — those are things that they care about — democracy, freedom, fighting for the rights for women to make decisions on their bodies. That’s what the President wants to continue to — that’s the turning of the page, but we get it. I — look — I — I — I’m not taking away from — from that. I don’t want to do that. That is not — I do not want to walk off this podium, and that’s what you all think. We’re not doing that and the President doesn’t want you all to do that. But he can do the job.
Unsatisfied with this, Shear jumped back in to give Wilner a boost with an excellent point about what’s to say Biden can serve another four years
NYT’s @ShearM: “But what’s the answer —
KJP: “He can.”
Shear: “— to the question about — can’t — what gives you confidence about two years from now or three years from now, or five years from now?”
KJP: “We believe — look, we believe that this is a President that is able to… pic.twitter.com/qcnbfQtOcD
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 2, 2024
He then invoked the sentiment Americans have with “elderly parents and grandparents and…you maybe visit them once a year and you see troubling signs because you don’t live in the same city perhaps.”
“I wonder if this is like a one time thing, or if it’s something that has been happening for, you know, a longer time that we need to deal with…[W]here are they going to be…in a year? Where are they going to be in two years. Do we need to put them in a home, like, you know, all of the questions that go through that, and this is sort of the American ver — people’s version of that,” he added.
Following a final question from the NPR seat about Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) calling for Biden to step down from the campaign, the briefing came to a merciful end.
To see the relevant and exhaustive transcript from July 2, click here.