Friday’s White House press briefing was largely dominated by anti-Israel-leaning questions directed toward John Kirby, but there was still time for the ever-inept Karine Jean-Pierre to make a fool of herself with exchanges such as ones with ABC’s MaryAlice Parks and Fox’s Peter Doocy over the viral video from our friend Jennie Taer at the New York Post and freelance videographer James Breeden of illegal immigrants overrunning a border fence.
To her credit despite being a lefty, Parks went first as the second reporter called on: “Has the President seen that dramatic video of migrants surging past National Guardsmen in Texas — in El Paso?”
Jean-Pierre not surprisingly admitted she had “not spoken to the President about that video”, but what she would say was it’s the fault of Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) because Biden “has worked with Congress...about getting an immigration bill done” whereas Abbott has “politicize[d] this” and the reason the border has become “chaotic” and “dangerous”.
She even seemed to take disgusting and classless potshots at Texas National Guardsmen as weaklings. Parks wouldn’t push back on this, but wondered if this means Americans should “continue to” accept another “standoff” (click “expand”):
JEAN-PIERRE: I do want to say we are grateful for the Border Patrol’s quick work to get the situation under control and apprehend the migrants, so that’s important, but congressional Republicans need to move on this what they’re doing instead, and this is the bipartisan agreement, obviously, is listening to the former President — President Trump tell them not to get involved in moving forward with this bipartisan agreement because of his own personal politics, because it will help this President. You all reported that. It’s not coming from us. You all reported that. And it is on full — unfortunate that Congress — Republican [sic] are not getting on board with what majority of Americans care about and you have a governor in — in — in Texas — Governor Abbott who is continuing to make this — make this sadly a dangerous situation a chaotic situation. Let’s not forget who they pass by to — to — to pass by the razor wires. They passed by the Texas National Guards that the Republican governor put — put — put at the border.
PARKS: But are — are you saying that Americans should just expect that they will continue to be a standoff between the —
JEAN-PIERRE: There shouldn’t be —
PARKS: — National Guardsmen and the border agents?
JEAN-PIERRE: — but — but —
PARKS: What is the resolution there?
JEAN-PIERRE: The resolution is — is pushing forward with the bipartisan agreement that came out of the Senate with Republicans and Democrats. That’s the solution.
When Parks called her out for pushing something that’s not “going anywhere”, a flustered Jean-Pierre reiterated her previous answer. Thankfully, Parks gave it one more try: “[I]t sounds like, right now, the White House and the President, the administration is not considering anything else to stop future events like that right now. The blame is to the Texas Governor and Congress.”
Jean-Pierre upped her rhetoric, twice saying it’s a “fact” that Abbott “has politicized this issue” and the White House doesn’t care about partisanship but instead “helping the American people.”
A few minutes later, it was a textbook Doocy Time, starting with this short and biting but respectful and important question: “[W]hat does President Biden think should happen to adult men who are assaulting and overpowering U.S. National Guardsmen?”
Jean-Pierre refused to denounce the attacks on American soldiers, solely because they serve in Texas under a Republican governor. Instead, she thanked “Border Patrol agents for their — to — quickly — to quickly work and get the situation under control and apprehend the migrants” and again blamed Abbott for “politicizing” the border.
Doocy then called out the Biden administration for “talk[ing] so much about having a more humane immigration system,” but the video showed the opposite with “adult men landing haymakers on U.S. troops in uniform” as opposed to “helpless women and children begging for a safe place to come in”.
“If that was happening anywhere else in the world, wouldn’t President Biden sent reinforcements,” he asked.
When Jean-Pierre initially replied “[e]veryone was apprehended,” Doocy followed up: “Were they deported?”
Of course, Jean-Pierre refused to answer (because, as Taer reported Friday morning, they were released into the U.S.) other than more Abbott blaming.
Doocy pivoted last to the latest example of how Chinese-owned TikTok and its algorithm interfere with our national security: “There is a Venezuelan migrant with half a million followers on TikTok, who’s telling border crossers they can live in empty houses in this country. Would President Biden support a law that would make that kind of squatting illegal?”
Jean-Pierre didn’t bit, saying she had “not seen that...so I can’t comment”.
In between Doocy and Parks, a reporter in the McClatchy Newspapers seat lobbed a softball at Jean-Pierre to attack Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) (click “expand”):
MCCLATCHY REPORTER: Today, Governor Ron DeSantis said that he’s also looking at implementing also like Texas that would allow Florida to arrest migrants as soon as they cross the Florida border. Are you concerned that other governors will be looking into kind of stricter immigration laws like this?
JEAN-PIERRE: I’m concerned about the politics that’s being played here, instead of dealing with the issue. Instead of the governor in Florida, saying, “hey, senators — my senators in my state, we need to work on the issue at hand here. There is a bipartisan agreement that is in your chamber right? That is in the Senate that was agreed upon in a bipartisan way. Can you guys move forward with that, instead of playing politics?” That’s what we want to see. We want to see an issue actually dealt with that majority of Americans care about. There is a bi — I cannot say this enough. There is a bipartisan agreement that came out of the Senate. Republicans were asked to reject it because of the former President — because of — helping his own politics. That’s not how we should be moving forward as a country. That is just not. And that’s not what the President believes.
To see the relevant transcript from the March 22 briefing, click here.
