White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was hard-pressed in her attempt to use a favored deflection against reporters Friday as they posited about the former president, why were you “willing to talk about President Trump before?”
Since succeeding Jen Psaki, who herself had had a complaint filed against her over a potential violation, Jean-Pierre has often used the Hatch Act as an excuse to not answer questions. During the most recent White House press briefing, she resumed that tactic when Agence France- Presse reporter Sebastian Smith inquired about how apprised President Joe Biden was of former President Donald Trump’s campaign.
“It’s not a 2024 — not a Hatch Act-type question, let’s put it that way,” Smith preempted before the press secretary cut in, “That’s what you think.”
“But Donald Trump is the front-runner at the moment — clear front-runner of the Republican Party…He wants to be president and he’s the front-runner of his party…This is somebody that President Biden has described as, you know, a danger, literally a danger to the country, and his movement an existential threat to democracy, etc,” the reporter carried on. “So candidate or not, is…President Biden…is he following the words and actions of Donald Trump on a fairly regular basis, considering he’s a danger, in his view?”
As had been expected, Jean-Pierre engaged in linguistic gymnastics and claimed, “you’re specifically talking about a result or — or what could potentially happening in that — happen in that race. And I’m just not going to speak to it.”
“What I can speak to is how the president is focusing on the American people and how he is delivering for the American people,” she contended before using the politically charged term “MAGA wing” as she referred to the Republican Party’s plans as a “threat to Americans across the country.”
“That’s what we’re going to focus on right now…feel free to ask me a million questions about that,” the press secretary offered before claiming, “I will not be talking about 2024.”
As previously reported, journalists had grown tired of Jean-Pierre’s overuse and overly broad interpretation of the 1939 federal law prohibiting government employees from engaging in political activities or promoting a political campaign, and The New York Times’s Michael Shear showed that again as he persisted on the subject.
“Why have you been willing to talk about President Trump before? And were you in violation of the Hatch Act when you did so?” he asked as Jean-Pierre defended, “Absolutely not,” before the question was finished.
Talking over one another, the press secretary insisted, “we were talking about what he did in the last administration. We were talking about policies that were harmful in the past administration.”
She then offered up her interpretation of what Smith had asked and said, “He asked me does the president still believe that — that Donald Trump is a threat if he wins. Right? Because he’s going to be — he’s a candidate.”
It was then that the AFP reporter spoke up once more to laughter as the duo bickered over what had been asked and suggested, “Can I — can I just say what I said. I — I — was asking: Is the president — is President Biden — does he follow the words and actions of…Donald Trump?”
Jean-Pierre’s effort to selectively choose which of Trump’s remarks were 2024 related and which could be considered part of his administration did not sit well and, naturally, she moved away from the topic before she could lose any more credibility.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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