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Karine Jean-Pierre gets ONE question on Durham report, abruptly ends press briefing

May 17, 2023 | | Print Article

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wanted nothing to do with Special Counsel John Durham’s report on the investigation into Trump-Russia collusion and, fortunately for her, the media is largely in the same camp.

Durham’s 300-page report was released on Monday and even though it found that the FBI and Justice Department “failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law” in pursuing an investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016, only one reporter asked for a reaction at Tuesday’s White House press briefing and Jean-Pierre brought the show to an end as soon as she dodged that inquiry.

“What is the White House reaction to Special Counsel Durham’s report on how the FBI handled the Trump-Russia probe?” asked RealClearNews reporter Philip Wegmann.

“I would leave it to the Department of Justice to speak to,” KJP replied.

In a follow-up, Wegmann asked, “So the president talks often about how he wants the DOJ and FBI to remain independent and, you know, above the fray. That report seems to reflect the opposite. Does he agree with Special Counsel Durham that there needs to be wholesale changes at the FBI?

“Again, that is with the Department of Justice. That’s not something that I’m going to speak from the podium,” the president’s spokesperson said. “As you just stated in your question, we believe in an independent Department of Justice. That’s what the president said when he was running. And that is what he — the President has said the last two years.”

“Thank you so much. I’ll see you guys in Japan,” she added, before bolting for the door with her massive binder.

As the Durham report noted, CIA director John Brennan briefed Obama and his top national security officials on intelligence that included the “alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016, of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.”

President Biden, who was vice president at the time, was reportedly at that briefing.

The GOP also reminded folks that Jean-Pierre was among those in the media spreading the Russian collusion hoax:

Here are other examples of Jean-Pierre doing her part to “vilify” Trump:

Given that there is much Jean-Pierre may have to answer for, social media users were not surprised that she was eager to get out of Dodge… here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:

Tom Tillison
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