Friday marked only the second White House press briefing of the week in which reporters could question Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the bag of cocaine found in the West Wing. While 13 reporters pressed Jean-Pierre on Wednesday about it, only one would on Friday (and a second to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan).
This was despite the fact that the bag of cocaine’s tale had evolved from seemingly blaming tourists to an area enveloping tourists, staff, and cubbies near the Situation Room. New York Post’s Caitlin Doornbos asked whether “the cocaine belonged to the Biden family,” which drew a hissy fit from Jean-Pierre that “ask[ing] that...is actually incredibly irresponsible.”
A relative newbie to the Briefing Room, Doornbos first wondered what was up with (the cartoonish partisan) Biden aide Andrew Bates ducking a question Thursday about the cocaine probe during an Air Force One gaggle by citing the Hatch Act.
That aside, she cut to the chase: “Can you say once and for all whether or the not the cocaine belonged to the Biden family?”
Jean-Pierre first insisted the Hatch Act came up because the question included an allusion to former President Donald Trump.
Doornbos tried to say she knew that, but Jean-Pierre wasn’t amused: “[Y]ou’re asking me a question, so I’m answering it for you...I would, you know, have you read the transcript and read the transcript fully, so you can see exactly what he was trying to say.”
Jean-Pierre added that “we’re not avoiding the question” and “that is not true” she has dodged questions because “[w]e’ve answered” and “litigated this question for the last two days, exhaustively.”
Fact check: If punting to the Secret Service is answering the question, then sure. Otherwise, that would be a pants on fire with nearly two dozens questions skipped over.
Jean-Pierre shifted focus to a faux-girl boss beatdown, blasting “some irresponsible reporting about the family and — and so, I got to call that out here.” She continued:
And I have been very clear. I was clear two days ago when talking about this over and over again as I was being asked a question. As you know, and media outlets reported this, the Biden family was not here. They were not here. They were at Camp David. They were not here Friday. They were not here Saturday. They were not here Sunday. They were not even here Monday. They came back on Tuesday.
Fact-check, number two: As Doornbos’s colleague Steven Nelson tweeted afterward, Friday night’s White House press pool report from Politico’s Eugene Daniels noted the Biden family didn’t actually leave the White House until just after 6:30 p.m. Eastern on Friday.
Jean-Pierre pounded the podium after this closer: “So, to ask that question is actually incredibly irresponsible and — and I’ll just leave it there.”
The former MoveOn.org flack didn’t even acknowledge Doornbos’s first question: “I’m wondering if you have any comment about recent crime in D.C. — it’s rising rates with — we’ve lost an SIV applicant from Afghanistan in most recent killings. Really tragic. Wondering what the White House has to say about that.”
Earlier in the briefing, the question to Sullivan came from Fox’s Mark Meredith, who sought his take on the matter from a national security perspective (click “expand”):
MEREDITH: Jake, five days after the cocaine was found here in the White House, congressional Republicans seem like they are very close to launching some sort of formal investigation. I’m curious: From a national security perspective, weigh in — what was your reaction when the drugs were found, and B, was there any risk to security, either to the President, to your staff, anybody that worked out of the Sit Room for this stuff to be so close to where you work?
SULLIVAN: So, first, I would refer to the secret service when it comes to questions of the security of the President, I won't speak to that. Second, I will make a point about the Situation Room because I think there’s been a lot of questionable reporting on this. The Situation Room is not in use and has not been in use for months because it is currently under construction. We are using an alternate situation room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, so the only people coming in and going out of the Sit Room in this period have been workers who are getting it ready to go. By the way, it’s on time and on schedule to be — [REPORTERS LAUGH] — to be back on station here in the not too distant future.
MEREDITH: But [INAUDIBLE] —
SULLIVAN: But no, there was no issue with the Situation Room relative to this. And then finally, look, we have rigorous drug testing policies at the White House. We have rigorous drug use policies. We take those extremely seriously, so we'll let the investigation unfold. If it — it involves someone from the White House, the appropriate consequences will ensue. If it involves a visitor who came in and left it, then that’s a different matter that raises a different set of questions that are less relevant to my line of work, so I will leave it at that. But I do not believe at present, as things stand here at the podium today, that we are facing a national security threat, ongoing national security threat.
MEREDITH: For the drugs?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. Exactly. We’re facing other national security threats.
On a different topic, Reuters’s Nandita Bose questioned Jean-Pierre about Friday’s jobs report, which saw “[t]otal Black employment” falling for a third-straight month “with 635,000 jobs lost in that spell, which is the most ever in a three-month stretch outside of the pandemic.”
Asked whether it’s “a setback”, Jean-Pierre revealed she doesn’t know three months is also a quarter of the year (click “expand”):
So, I’ll just remind you that, under this administration, back in April, you saw the — the unemployment hit a record low at 4.7 percent and that was just a couple months ago. Again, under this administration. Look, this data — certainly — particular — particularly — is volatile and that is something that we understand, so it’s most useful to — to measure in a quarterly basis over three months instead of one — one, to — to smooth out noise, right, cause this one is a little bit more noisy. So, you know, the Black jobless rate last quarter was tied with the previous quarter for the lowest on record, so that is also important to note. So, this is why we continue to say how important Bidenomics is, how — how it has actually worked for all Americans, not leaving anyone behind, when you think about more Black Americans are employed in the labor force, when you think about more Black Americans have health care with average of almost 50 percent in healthcare.gov coverage. We achieved the fastest rate of Black-owned businesses in more than 25 years. We’re investing in infrastructure and communities of color that are normally left behind, that are normally taken into consideration, so we’re reconnecting — that’s reconnecting those communities that are separated and we’re closing the digital divide for Black Americans because of the bipartisan infrastructure legislation when you think about broadband. So, all of these things are part of some of — comes out of — part of the President’s key, signature pieces of legislation that, clearly, are into — in — into law and we’re implementing. So, there are — there is an effort to make sure that we continue to do the bottom up, middle out and not do this trickle — trickle down economy.
To see the relevant transcript from the July 7 briefing, click “expand.”
White House press briefing [via ABC News Live]
July 7, 2023
2:37 p.m. EasternMARK MEREDITH: Jake, five days after the cocaine was found here in the White House, congressional Republicans seem like they are very close to launching some sort of formal investigation. I’m curious: From a national security perspective, weigh in — what was your reaction when the drugs were found, and B, was there any risk to security, either to the President, to your staff, anybody that worked out of the Sit Room for this stuff to be so close to where you work?
JAKE SULLIVAN: So, first, I would refer to the secret service when it comes to questions of the security of the President, I won't speak to that. Second, I will make a point about the Situation Room because I think there’s been a lot of questionable reporting on this. The Situation Room is not in use and has not been in use for months because it is currently under construction. We are using an alternate situation room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, so the only people coming in and going out of the Sit Room in this period have been workers who are getting it ready to go. By the way, it’s on time and on schedule to be — [REPORTERS LAUGH] — to be back on station here in the not too distant future.
MEREDITH: But [INAUDIBLE] —
SULLIVAN: But no, there was no issue with the Situation Room relative to this. And then finally, look, we have rigorous drug testing policies at the White House. We have rigorous drug use policies. We take those extremely seriously, so we'll let the investigation unfold. If it — it involves someone from the White House, the appropriate consequences will ensue. If it involves a visitor who came in and left it, then that’s a different matter that raises a different set of questions that are less relevant to my line of work, so I will leave it at that. But I do not believe at present, as things stand here at the podium today, that we are facing a national security threat, ongoing national security threat.
MEREDITH: For the drugs?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. Exactly. We’re facing other national security threats.
(....)
2:47 p.m. Eastern
NANDITA BOSE: A quick question on the jobs report. Total Black employment is down three straight months now with 635,000 jobs lost in that spell, which is the most ever in a three-month stretch outside of the pandemic. Is that a setback for the administration and do you have a comment?"
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: So, I’ll just remind you that, under this administration, back in April, you saw the — the unemployment hit a record low at 4.7 percent and that was just a couple months ago. Again, under this administration. Look, this data — certainly — particular — particularly — is volatile and that is something that we understand, so it’s most useful to — to measure in a quarterly basis over three months instead of one — one, to — to smooth out noise, right, cause this one is a little bit more noisy. So, you know, the Black jobless rate last quarter was tied with the previous quarter for the lowest on record, so that is also important to note. So, this is why we continue to say how important Bidenomics is, how — how it has actually worked for all Americans, not leaving anyone behind, when you think about more Black Americans are employed in the labor force, when you think about more Black Americans have health care with average of almost 50 percent in healthcare.gov coverage. We achieved the fastest rate of Black-owned businesses in more than 25 years. We’re investing in infrastructure and communities of color that are normally left behind, that are normally taken into consideration, so we’re reconnecting — that’s reconnecting those communities that are separated and we’re closing the digital divide for Black Americans because of the bipartisan infrastructure legislation when you think about broadband. So, all of these things are part of some of — comes out of — part of the President’s key, signature pieces of legislation that, clearly, are into — in — into law and we’re implementing. So, there are — there is an effort to make sure that we continue to do the bottom up, middle out and not do this trickle — trickle down economy.
BOSE: Are these numbers a cause for concern or are you looking at it as a blip because it is — these are quarterly numbers?
JEAN-PIERRE: So, what I said was this data is particularly volatile, so we have to make sure that we — we look at this more holistic — more holistically because it’s a volatile data, but there are also data points that I just pointed to that, under this administration, we have seen record low unemployment when you think about the Black community at 4.7 percent ever. Ever. Since we started tracking unemployment rate in different communities, so that matters. And so, that’s why the President continues to talk about Bidenomics and continues to implement some — again, some of these key, historic pieces of legislation that is going to help communities like in the Black community.
(....)
2:59 p.m. Eastern
CAITLIN DOORNBOS: I’m wondering if you have any comment about recent crime in D.C. — it’s rising rates with — we’ve lost an SIV applicant from Afghanistan in most recent killings. Really tragic. Wondering what the White House has to say about that. And then, secondly — ha — sorry to bring up cocaine again, but there was a question yesterday during press gaggle with Andrew Bates that was, I guess, he said that it — he did — he was avoiding it because of the Hatch Act. I’m just asking again: Can you say once and for all whether or the not the cocaine belonged to the Biden family?
JEAN-PIERRE: So — [REPORTERS LAUGH] — a couple of things there. He mentioned the Hatch Act because the question was posed to him in — the Donald —
DOORNBOS: Yes.
JEAN-PIERRE: — using Donald Trump. And so, he was trying to be very mindful —
DOORNBOS: I do read the transcript.
JEAN-PIERRE: — oh, oh, okay. I hear you. But you’re asking me a question, so I’m answering it for you. And so, that’s why he said the Hatch Act. So, I would — I would, you know, have you read the transcript and read the transcript fully, so you can see exactly what he was trying to say, so that’s number one. So, we’re not avoiding the question. That is not true. We've answered this question — litigated this question for the last two days, exhaustively. You know, there has been some irresponsible reporting about the family and — and so, I got to call that out here. And I have been very clear. I was clear two days ago when talking about this over and over again as I was being asked a question. As you know, and media outlets reported this, the Biden family was not here. They were not here. They were at Camp David. They were not here Friday. They were not here Saturday. They were not here Sunday. They were not even here Monday. They came back on Tuesday. So, to ask that question is actually incredibly irresponsible and — and I’ll just leave it there. [POUNDS PODIUM]
