A day after the ever-inept White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre bizarrely called on Fox’s Peter Doocy and then almost immediately moved on when he was visibly unamused by her spin on the border crisis, Jean-Pierre only somewhat owned up to her nonsense Friday and let Doocy press her on the latest flare-up in Texas.
“I know — I know your — your dad had some thoughts about our back-and-forth yesterday, so maybe we sh — we should try this again,” Jean-Pierre began, noting Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy sounded off hours earlier.
Peter stuck to his guns, saying he had the “same question as yesterday”: “What do you call it when 10,000 people illegally cross the border in a single day?”
This time, Jean-Pierre answered while Doocy didn’t interject (likely so as not to again result in her pitching a hissy fit). Jean-Pierre played Baghdad Bob, arguing Biden “put forth a comprehensive immigration reform” on his first day in office that’s “desperately needed for this country,” but Congress has refused to acquiesce.
Then came the punchline that Biden has “imposed consequences for those who do not have the legal basis to remain” and “secured record funding” while Republicans want to allow drugs to flow into the country.
Doocy pushed back: “But when you spoke last month and you said, ‘[w]e are stopping the flow at the border,’ is 10,000 migrants in a single day stopping the flow?”
Cue the laugh tracks as Jean-Pierre hilariously claimed Eagle Pass and the border are under control:
[Y]ou know, looking at Eagle Pass — and I know this is a — this is a — where — where kind of the — the issue is at the ti- — at the moment. You know, CBP quickly surged resources and personnel to the area. And thanks to their great work — their great work, we’re able to swiftly vet — vetted and processed into custody more than two hun- — 2,500 individuals and cleared the area where migrants had congregated and that’s the work of our law enforcement.
Doocy went next to the Senate dress code change meant to accommodate the mentally and physically incapacitated senator, John Fetterman (D-PA). Of course, Jean-Pierre refused to speak out against allowing senators being allowed to be as casual as they want (click “expand”):
DOOCY: There are some new relaxed standards in town. Would President Biden ever show up to an official meeting wearing shorts and a hoodie?
JEAN-PIERRE: You’ve — you’ve — I’m assuming you’re talking about the Senate when you say “relaxed standards.”
DOOCY: He was in the Senate for a long time.
JEAN-PIERRE: I know, but I’m just —
DOOCY: He used to be the president of the Senate.
JEAN-PIERRE: I just want to make sure we’re clear what you’re talking about here.
DOOCY: Does he think these are appropriate changes?
JEAN-PIERRE: You — you know the President. You’ve seen him. You’ve seen him for the past — as vice president, as senator. He — he dresses better than — than most of us here and so, I’ll just leave it at that. I’m not going to comment on how Senate is running their business and the decision that they’re — made. That is — that is up to them. That is not for us to decide or speak to.
Doocy wrapped with the latest Biden gaffe ignored by the liberal media: “[A]t a fundraiser this week, President Biden told donors about how Charlottesville inspired his campaign. And then, according to the pool, a few minutes later, he told the story again, nearly word for word. What’s up with that?”
Jean-Pierre demurred because the remarks were at a 2024 campaign event, but emphasized she knows Biden cares about “protect[ing] our democracy” and serving as “the adult in the room.”
To her credit, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell asked this again later in the briefing (click “expand”):
O’DONNELL: [W]e all understand these are off camera. We were not witnesses to that, except for our pool that was present. But for the President to retell a story we’ve all heard him tell many times —
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.
O’DONNELL: — in full — and stipulating that we often — as human beings, you know, we misspeak. We do things. I’ve done it myself. So, stipulating all of that —
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.
O’DONNELL: — is it any concern that he would fully retell a story in the same space in the same event?
JEAN-PIERRE: Sometimes I re- — re-speak as well from here and retell a story...[H]e was speaking from his heart. He was speaking about why he decided to do this and you hear the President talk about this. It’s always incredibly emotional for him, because he didn’t have to. He went through a incredibly difficult time...[A]s somebody who served as senator, as somebody who served as vice president — what was going on in this — in this — in this country under the last President. Charlottesville —
O’DONNELL: So, you think knowingly and mindfully that he wanted to retell it?
JEAN-PIERRE: You know, I have not spoken to the President about it, certainly, but what I can’t say is: The passion that he has when he tells that story and how important it is for him...[O]ur democracy was at stake...[Y]ou all saw what we saw in Charlottesville. It was devastating...[H]e can help move this country forward...[T]hat’s why he was speaking to — in an incredibly passionate way.
To see the relevant transcript from September 22, click “expand.”
White House press briefing [via ABC News Live subfeed]
September 22, 2023
1:56 p.m. EasternKARINE JEAN-PIERRE: I know — I know your — your dad had some thoughts about our back-and-forth yesterday, so maybe we sh — we should try this again.
PETER DOOCY: I — same question. Same question as yesterday.
JEAN-PIERRE: Can you repeat the question?
PETER DOOCY: What do you call it when 10,000 people illegally cross the border in a single day?
JEAN-PIERRE: So, here’s what I will say. And you’ve heard us say — you heard me say this a couple of times — and I’ll say it again because it is the facts: On day one, the first day of this President’s administration, he put forth a comprehensive immigration reform that we believe — we believe that was desperately needed for this country, right? As we know, and you’ve heard us say this many times before, we are dealing with a broken system. And no action was taken from Congress and so, what the President was able to do: He imposed consequences for those who do not have the legal basis to remain and he has removed more than 250,000 individuals — this administration has done so — since May 12 and so, we’ve taken action. The President has secured — he also secured record funding. And — and let’s not forget: This record funding that the President fought for over the last year or so was — was opposed by the House Republicans. This is something that they opposed and didn’t want to see and so, what it allowed us to do is actually hire about 25,000 more — bring on CBP agents and really do something that was historic, that we hadn’t seen and so, a broken system. It’s been broken for the past couple of decades. The last administration certainly gutted the immigration system for four years. That’s what they did and you had Speaker McCarthy and the Republicans in Congress who continuously — continuously take step to undermine what is currently happening, trying to undermine getting border security. We saw that — we saw that this week with the — with the CR, where they put forth another — another piece of legislation to cut — to cut — to propose continuing to cut — cut some important resources that’s needed, whether it’s CBP — 800 fewer CBP is what they wanted to do. Fifty thousand pounds of cocaine, that’s what it would — that’s what it would hurt — right — in — in trying to prevent that from coming in, right? When you think about more than 300 pounds of fentanyl, when you think about more than 700 pounds of heroin, more than 6,000 pounds of methamphetamine to enter the country — that’s what they were trying to prevent from the work that we’re trying to do — prevent from coming into the country. So, we would love to do this in a bipartisan way, but we’re not seeing that. We’re seeing — what we’re seeing from House Republicans is wanting to defend — defu- — defund, pardon me, DHS.
DOOCY: But when you spoke last month —
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.
DOOCY: — and you said, “We are stopping the flow at the border,” is 10,000 migrants in a single day stopping the flow?
JEAN-PIERRE: What I will say is — I just mentioned 250 [sic] individuals have been — have been stopped who do not have the legal pathway from coming in. That has been since May 12. And — and as we are, you know, looking at Eagle Pass — and I know this is a — this is a — where — where kind of the — the issue is at the ti- — at the moment. You know, CBP quickly surged resources and personnel to the area. And thanks to their great work — their great work, we’re able to swiftly vet — vetted and processed into custody more than two hun- — 2,500 individuals and cleared the area where migrants had congregated and that’s the work of our law enforcement. That’s the work of our law enforcement at the border. Remember, House Republicans are trying to cut that. They’re trying to cut that.
DOOCY: Totally different subject.
JEAN-PIERRE: Sure.
DOOCY: There are some new relaxed standards in town. Would President Biden ever show up to an official meeting wearing shorts and a hoodie?
JEAN-PIERRE: You’ve — you’ve — I’m assuming you’re talking about the Senate when you say “relaxed standards.”
DOOCY: He was in the Senate for a long time.
JEAN-PIERRE: I know, but I’m just —
DOOCY: He used to be the president of the Senate.
JEAN-PIERRE: I just want to make sure we’re clear what you’re talking about here.
DOOCY: Does he think these are appropriate changes?
JEAN-PIERRE: You — you know the President. You’ve seen him. You’ve seen him for the past — as vice president, as senator. He — he dresses better than — than most of us here and so, I’ll just leave it at that. I’m not going to comment on how Senate is running their business and the decision that they’re — made. That is — that is up to them.
DOOCY: And then —
JEAN-PIERRE: That is not for us to decide or speak to.
DOOCY: — last one. At a fundrai — at a fundraiser this week, President Biden told donors about how Charlottesville inspired his campaign. And then, according to the pool, a few minutes later, he told the story again, nearly word for word. What’s up with that?
JEAN-PIERRE: What I can tell you is — and I’m going to be careful not to talk about — because this was a campaign event for this upcoming campaign, obviously, in 2024. So, I’m not going to speak to that, put that out there for the Hatch Act. What I can speak to is — look, the President was making very clear why he decided to run in 2020 and 2019. He made it very clear as to what he saw in this country and what was going on. And he got 81 million votes — a historic amount of votes — from Americans across the country who believed that this was a president who can help get our — protect our democracy, get our economy back on track. And — and could be a leader and the adult in the room and so, that’s what you saw. I’m not going to speak to comments that were made and — during a campaign — campaign event, but I can certainly speak to why the President is president today and why he decided to take on this job and it is important for him to continue to deliver for the American people, and that’s what he’s going to do.
(....)
Time N/A
2 minutes and 1 secondsKELLY O’DONNELL: And following up on Peter’s comment about the fundraiser. For — you know, we all understand these are off camera. We were not witnesses to that, except for our pool that was present. But for the President to retell a story we’ve all heard him tell many times —
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.
O’DONNELL: — in full — and stipulating that we often — as human beings, you know, we misspeak. We do things. I’ve done it myself. So, stipulating all of that —
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.
O’DONNELL: — is it any concern that he would fully retell a story in the same space in the same event?
JEAN-PIERRE: Sometimes I re- — re-speak as well from here and retell a story. But, look, you know, I think it’s important to note that the President was speaking, as you said, at a fundraiser, and he was speaking from his heart. He was speaking about why he decided to do this and you hear the President talk about this. It’s always incredibly emotional for him, because he didn’t have to. He went through a incredibly difficult time when he was deciding to jump into the race and so — but he saw — you know, as somebody who served as senator, as somebody who served as vice president — what was going on in this — in this — in this country under the last President. Charlottesville —
O’DONNELL: So, you think knowingly and mindfully that he wanted to retell it?
JEAN-PIERRE: You know, I have not spoken to the President about it, certainly, but what I can’t say is: The passion that he has when he tells that story and how important it is for him to have done something because he believed, you know, our democracy was at stake. You know, and that’s — and — and what he saw. I mean, you all saw what we saw in Charlottesville. It was devastating. It was a part of our country that was devastating to see and so, you know, he spoke to that passionately and, you know, that’s why he’s in this. He’s in this because he believes that he can — he can help move this country forward in a way that brings it to — to its best — right — when he talks about possibilities and that’s why he was speaking to — in an incredibly passionate way.
