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Another day, another spat between White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Fox News’s Peter Doocy. This time Jean-Pierre, dressed in an outlandish pinstripe suit, snatched up her fastidiously labeled binder and walked out after attempting to answer Doocy’s questions about hurricane relief funds, which she claimed were based on “misinformation.”
Karine Jean-Pierre faced reporters Tuesday in an oversized gray — male? — suit and a bright purple collar shirt. After giving her “topper,” which mainly memorialized lives lost on October 7 and addressed the devastation and conspiracy theories surrounding Hurricane Helene, Jean-Pierre took questions from reporters.
“Thank you, Karine,” Peter Doocy said in minute forty-four, after thirty or so minutes of questions. “Congratulations on the promotion.”
President Biden has promoted Karine Jean-Pierre to serve as his senior advisor. There are no known changes in job responsibilities, and the role does not include a pay raise. The promotion means “nothing and [is] a joke,” a former Biden White House official told the New York Post. Cockburn tends to agree, as Biden only has three months left in office and Karine Jean-Pierre’s position as press secretary has been shaky, at best.
A White House official told ABC News that her promotion “shows the faith that Biden has in her, as well as his commitment to having diverse and inter-generational voices guiding him in his decisions.” Karine Jean-Pierre is a fifty-year-old black lesbian woman.
“You’re not leaving us in the briefing room, are you?” Doocy continued.
“Unless you want me to,” Jean-Pierre responded. “Do you want me to leave the briefing room?”
“No, sure don’t.”
“And on this issue of funding,” Doocy continued, after asking one question about an arms dealer, “the administration has money to send to Lebanon, without Congress coming back, but Congress does have to come back to approve money to send to people in North Carolina. Do I have that right?”
“Here’s what I am going to be very clear about,” Jean-Pierre responded. “The president and the vice president has had a robust, whole-of-government response to this. Hundreds of millions of dollars — I said it at the top — more than $200 million that we have directly put towards survivors here for disaster help.” Jean-Pierre went on about “federal folks on the ground to help” and misinformation, “which is dangerous.”
Then it got heated.
“But President Biden is fond of saying ‘show me your budget and I will tell you what you value,’” Doocy countered. “If he’s got money people in Lebanon right now, without Congress having to come back, what does it say about his values that there is not enough money for people right now—”
“—His values,” Jean-Pierre interjected.
“For people in North Carolina who need it. That’s not misinformation.”
“Wait. No, that is. Wait. Your whole premise of the question is misinformation sir—”
“Excuse me? Which part? Is there money to send to Lebanon right now?”
“I just mentioned to you that we provided more than $200 million to people impacted in the area.”
After some back-and-forth, Doocy eventually told Jean-Pierre that, “You can’t call a question you don’t like ‘misinformation.’ That’s very unfair.”
Karine Jean-Pierre ended the briefing somewhat early at forty-nine minutes, when they often last an hour. She concluded with a mealy-mouthed reply to Doocy: “What you’re asking me is why Congress needs to come back and do their job.” She claimed the president and the vice president are continuing to urge Congress to do their job even if “you may not want that.” She snatched up her binder with a “thanks everybody” and walked out.
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