Wednesday’s White House press briefing saw a predictable drop-off in hardballs on the latest Biden administration scandal of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin going MIA for days with what he later revealed were a series of hospital stays for prostate cancer. Thankfully, there were a smattering of questions about Hunter Biden’s latest D.C. stunt as he appeared in-person for a House Oversight Committee hearing to discuss holding him in contempt of Congress.
Fox’s Peter Doocy was in the thicket of it. After two questions about whether President Biden cares more about illegal immigrants than Americans since a New York City school briefly went virtual to serve as a shelter, Doocy asked the ever-inept Karine Jean-Pierre to be honest: “And — and Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill today. How big of a headache is that for you?”
Jean-Pierre played up the “private citizen” excuse, arguing he’s “not a member of the White House, as you know, and I just don’t have anything else to share.”
Doocy really got to the heart of the matter with his next statement: “But the last time he was on the Hill, you said the President was certainly familiar with what his son was going to say.”
Jean-Pierre confirmed she said that, but didn’t go any further as Doocy interjected with this scorcher: “So, the official line that President Biden does not help him with his business deals, but he does help him skirt congressional subpoenas?”
Doocy: “But the last time he was on the Hill, you said the President was certainly familiar with what his son was going to say.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 10, 2024
KJP: “I did say that and here’s — and what —”
Doocy: “So, the official line that —”
KJP: “— I’m saying today —”
Doocy: “— President Biden —
KJP: “—… pic.twitter.com/LJri8MqsjS
This left the press secretary incensed: “That is not even true. That — that is a jump that is — that is incredibly disingenuous in that question.” Doocy countered she should then “help us out”, but Jean-Pierre insisted she was by saying she didn’t “have anything else to share.”
While on the topic of Doocy, his wife and Fox Business correspondent Hillary Vaughn hounded Hunter Biden as he left the hearing room:
MRS. DOOCY TIME: “Mr. Biden, why did you put your dad on speakerphone when he had nothing to do with your business? You put him on speakerphone multiple times to talk to your business partners? Why — why did you do that?”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 10, 2024
Hunter Biden: “[INAUDIBLE]...I've got [INAUDIBLE] problem… pic.twitter.com/9Ad5dRRZKD
Prior to Doocy, CBS’s Nancy Cordes had the first Hunter question and wondered if “the White House” knew “in advance that Hunter Biden would be showing up at the House Oversight Committee is hearing on Capitol Hill today.”
This made sense since, back on December 13, Jean-Pierre admitted President Joe Biden knew in advance what Hunter would say when he spoke before cameras outside the Capitol instead of testifying about his life of ruin.
Jean-Pierre offered a whole lot of nothing, which would lead one to suspect the White House did know about Hunter’s public taunting (click “expand”):
JEAN-PIERRE: So here’s what I’ll say. And I’ve said this many times before: Hunter as you all know, as a private citizen. He’s not a member of this White House. He makes his own decisions like he did today about how to respond to Congress. And so, I would refer you any further questions, any additional questions about — about this process — certainly, to — I refer you to Hunter’s representatives.”
CORDES: Fully grant you that he makes his own decisions, but my question was about whether the White House was informed in advance?
JEAN-PIERRE: I would just — again, I’ve — I would say that I don’t have anything. We don’t have anything else to share beyond that. He’s a private citizen, and he makes his own decisions as it relates to this particular, you know, responses — particular response to Congress. It’s something that he decides on and I would refer to his representatives.
ABC’s Selina Wang picked up where Cordes and Doocy left off: “Did the President speak to his son before or after his appearance on Capitol Hill?”
When Jean-Pierre declined to comment because what Hunter tells his father is “private”, Wang sought a response for Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC) calling Hunter “the epitome of white privilege” and demanding he be jailed. Once again, Jean-Pierre refused to comment.
To her credit, CNN’s M.J. Lee cited the hypocrisy of Jean-Pierre decrying the GOP’s impeachment efforts of Biden as a stunt but refusing to denounce what was clearly a stunt by Hunter. And, at the end of the briefing, The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg unsuccessfully tried to get an answer to the question of whether Hunter slept at the White House on Tuesday (click “expand”):
LEE: Karine, you’ve referred to the Republican impeachment inquiry as a stunt. The President himself has said that it was a political stunt. So, I guess, if the whole thing is a stunt, how does the White House see the President’s son himself pulling a stunt by appearing at this contempt hearing?
JEAN-PIERRE: I — I don’t have anything else to add. The decisions that are made by Hunter Biden is — are his own. He’s a private citizen. And I’m just not going to speak beyond that. If you ask me about the impeachment of — or what — the — the GOP in Congress is doing as they’re — as they’re trying to impeach multiple Cabinet members. I can speak to that. But Hunter Biden is a private citizen. I’m just not going to speak to that.
LEE: You have spoken to that. And again, you have called that a stunt in the past, right? So, I’m just asking —
JEAN-PIERRE: I — I just don’t have anything else to add. I — I hear you. For today, I’m just not going to say anything more.
(....)
FEINBERG: And, on Hunter Biden, I understand he is a private citizen. He is not a member of the administration. He is, however, a member of the President’s family. So, could you tell us if he stayed at the White House in the residence last night?
JEAN-PIERRE: I don’t have anything else to share.
Rewinding to Tuesday’s briefing, the New York Post’s Steven Nelson had two topics of Biden corruption — Hunter Biden’s laughable art career and Burisma. Unsurprisingly, Jean-Pierre punted on both (click “expand”):
NELSON: The First Son’s art dealer today is testifying on the Hill And he said that he did not have any talks with White House officials about setting up the supposed agreements to ensure that the buyers IDs were anonymous and that, in fact, many of the IDs were known. There was reporting during the President’s first year in office that some White House officials were engaged in setting up this supposed agreement. Can you just clarify what the case was?
JEAN-PIERRE: I’m just not going to comment from here. I would refer you to my colleagues at the White House — White House legal office. I just don’t have anything to share.
NELSON: Before my second one, just a plug for — a request for Ian Sams to perhaps take questions one day.
JEAN-PIERRE: Well, you have full acc — you have access to Ian Sams. He’s very good at responding to all of you and taking your questions. So, you know, I think that’s important. He — he’s been very, very good at connecting with — with everyone in this room who has questions like you have about anything that is related to what you just asked.
NELSON: And my second question —
JEAN-PIERRE: Third question.
NELSON: Well — my second question is that we have new reporting that the mayor of Kyiv, Sitting Mayor Vitali Klitschko, was involved with a business entity called Burisma Geothermal that was formerly chaired by the First Son when he was the Second Son. The President met with the mayor multiple times, of course, over the years And I was hoping that you could say whether the President knew about this business relationship during their meetings.
JEAN-PIERRE: I would refer you to the White House Counsel’s Office.
To see the relevant transcript from the January 10 briefing, click here.
