Given Wednesday’s White House press briefing ran less than 40 minutes, its abbreviated state largely made it uneventful aside from a truly comical Doocy Time having left the ever-inept Karine Jean-Pierre even more incoherent than usual and, on the other end of the spectrum, taxpayer-funded National Public Radio’s (NPR) Asma Khalid pled for Israel to suffer “consequences” for its war against Hamas.
Fox’s Peter Doocy first question dealt with a little-discussed but important topic to national security: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
“[S]o, you guys started draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try and help with ‘the Putin Price Hike’ a few years ago. Said You were going to refill it. But now it doesn’t seem like that’s happening. Why,” he asked.
Jean-Pierre’s stammering, stumbling answer was one for the ages:
Well, from — I believe the Department of Energy is — is responsible for — for that particular component — is refilling — refilling that, so I would refer to the Department of Energy. I know there are certain components to that and how they were going to move forward and refilling — refilling it. Uh — I — they would have had more specifics on that for you.
Doocy’s remaining time focused on the Biden border crisis, starting with this query that left Jean-Pierre playing dumb and asking for more information: “And why isn’t federal immigration law tougher on border crossers who come here and are accused of serious crimes?”
Given Jean-Pierre’s befuddlement, Doocy explained more: “There’s this story in New York — an eight-person crew of border crossers found with drugs and guns. Six of them now are out on bail. Does President Biden think policies like that are making the country safer?”
Jean-Pierre ducked, citing this example as being “an active case, so don’t want to comment on an active case, but anyone found guilty — and we’ve been very clear about that — anyone found guilty of a crime should be held accountable” and that the Biden regime has “been very, very clear about that.”
Doocy last question touched on the left’s pro-crime tendencies: “So, more generally then, do you guys think that some big cities in this country have liberal DAs that are too soft on crime?”
Of course, Jean-Pierre also refused to answer other than reiterating her previous answer and declining “to speak to every state or city here.”
Khalid immediately followed Doocy and made sure to represent the pro-Gaza, anti-Israel (so, pro-Hamas) voice that applies to a small subset of the country:
Your tax dollars at work.....
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 3, 2024
NPR's Asma Khalid: “[Y]ou heard the President being outraged strike on aid workers. In the past, the president has also referred to indiscriminate bombing. I'm wondering if you can articulate why, thus far, there has been no consequences [for… pic.twitter.com/QgF4A6adkp
Khalid wasn’t satisfied, so she kept pressing (which was more than NPR would on caught dead doing for a conservative or Republican cause) (click “expand”):
KHALID: Can you articulate why there have been no consequences thus far for any types of behavior that the President has been outraged by?
JEAN-PIERRE: Hey, look, we’ve had — we are having conversations with the Israeli government. We’ve been very clear about that. Those conversations have been tough. We’ve been very public about those conversations. On this particular instant [sic], there will be an investigation. There is an investigation currently happening. The President has said he wants it to be swift. He wants it to be comprehensive, and he wants to be there — to see accountability — to bring account — account — right — to bring accountability. He said that in his statement, and he wants to make sure that it is public. So, we’re going to let that process move forward and, you know, You said it yourself. The President also has been publicly clear here about what — how he feels about what he has seen. We do not want to see innocence civilians die here. We do not want that and we’re going to continue to be clear and have those conversations from the President on down with our counterparts in in the Israeli government and those conversations — iditions are tough, right? You think about Rafah — the Rafah operations. We’ve been clear about that how — where we stand that a military operations [sic] is not the way to go. There are alternative ways of getting those Hamas operators in Rafah. That’s why we had a meeting — a virtual meeting on Monday. That’s where we’re going to have an in-person meeting with Israeli government. The person take — the President takes this very seriously. He wants to make sure that innocent civilian lives are protected, including those humanitarian aid workers who are out there and, yes, he’s outraged and he’s heartbroken by what happened yesterday and we’re going to have those conversations with the Israeli government — as we have been. It’s going to continue.
This back-and-forth went on a few more rounds as Khalid even interrupted to whine she’s “privately” asked Biden officials about as to whether Biden has personally met with anyone who had been to Gaza since October 7.
Gee, what happened then, Asthma? And whose fault is it that Gaza looks far different than it did prior to October 7?
Jean-Pierre offered plenty of platitudes about the Arab American “community” but wouldn’t say yes or no out of respect for “private” meetings.
To see the relevant transcript from the April 3 briefing, click “expand.”
White House press briefing [via ABC News Live subfeed]
April 3, 2024
1:25 p.m. EasternPETER DOOCY: First, the — so, you guys started draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try and help with “the Putin Price Hike” a few years ago. Said You were going to refill it. But now it doesn’t seem like that’s happening. Why?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Well, from — I believe the Department of Energy is — is responsible for — for that particular component — is refilling — refilling that, so I would refer to the Department of Energy. I know there are certain components to that and how they were going to move forward and refilling — refilling it. Uh — I — they would have had more specifics on that for you.
DOOCY: Okay. And why isn’t federal immigration law tougher on border crossers who come here and are accused of serious crimes?
JEAN-PIERRE: So — um — are you speaking of a specific case?
DOOCY: There’s this story in New York — an eight-person crew of border crossers found with drugs and guns. Six of them now are out on bail. Does President Biden think policies like that are making the country safer?
JEAN-PIERRE: So I want to be really careful. That’s an active case, so don’t want to comment on an active case, but anyone found guilty — and we’ve been very clear about that — anyone found guilty of a crime should be held accountable. We have been very, very clear about that and if they if a person poses a danger to the community, they should be detained pretrial.
DOOCY: So, more generally then, do you guys think that some big cities in this country have liberal DAs that are too soft on crime?
JEAN-PIERRE: Look, what I will say is, I’m not going to speak to every state or city here. I — it’s not for me to speak to. We have been very clear about this. Anyone who commits a crime and is found guilty needs to be held accountable. That’s what this President believes, and we are certainly very much. We welcome local law enforcement support and cooperation and apprehending and removing individuals in this country who pose a risk to our national security or also public safety. If they are found guilty. They should be held accountable. That’s our — that’s where we stand on this. [TO KHALID] Go ahead.
ASHMA KHALID: Thank, Karine. Two questions, one is you heard the President being outraged strike on aid workers. In the past, the president has also referred to indiscriminate bombing. I’m wondering if you can articulate why, thus far, there has been no consequences and why there are no consequences? So, beyond —
JEAN-PIERRE: So I want to be clear. It’s — it’s not me, referring to that. this is the President’s statement. I’m just lifting up the statement from last night where he says —
KHALID: Yeah, and I understand that.
JEAN-PIERRE: — I am outraged and heartbroken. The first — the first — basically — line — part of the first line of the President’s — President’s statement from last night, and it speaks for itself and he talked about — how he talked about how there’s more that needs to be done to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.
KHALID: Can you articulate why there have been no consequences thus far for any types of behavior that the President has been outraged by?
JEAN-PIERRE: Hey, look, we’ve had — we are having conversations with the Israeli government. We’ve been very clear about that. Those conversations have been tough. We’ve been very public about those conversations. On this particular instant [sic], there will be an investigation. There is an investigation currently happening. The President has said he wants it to be swift. He wants it to be comprehensive, and he wants to be there — to see accountability — to bring account — account — right — to bring accountability. He said that in his statement, and he wants to make sure that it is public. So, we’re going to let that process move forward and, you know, You said it yourself. The President also has been publicly clear here about what — how he feels about what he has seen. We do not want to see innocence civilians die here. We do not want that and we’re going to continue to be clear and have those conversations from the President on down with our counterparts in in the Israeli government and those conversations — iditions are tough, right? You think about Rafah — the Rafah operations. We’ve been clear about that how — where we stand that a military operations [sic] is not the way to go. There are alternative ways of getting those Hamas operators in Rafah. That’s why we had a meeting — a virtual meeting on Monday. That’s where we’re going to have an in-person meeting with Israeli government. The person take — the President takes this very seriously. He wants to make sure that innocent civilian lives are protected, including those humanitarian aid workers who are out there and, yes, he’s outraged and he’s heartbroken by what happened yesterday and we’re going to have those conversations with the Israeli government — as we have been. It’s going to continue.
KHALID: Yeah and if I can also go back to something that was asked earlier about the presidential meeting with any aid workers or anybody who’s been inside of Gaza since October 7. I mean, it is a question of also privately posed to some of your colleagues and it feels like a yes or no question whether or not he’s actually met with somebody who’s been inside. And the reason I’m asking is a number of people at the meeting said, to their knowledge this was the first time the President had actually spoken to anybody who’s been inside of Gaza since October 7. And [inaudible] —
JEAN-PIERRE: Here’s what I can tell you. He’s met with community leaders who are obviously from the Muslim community, the Arab community, the Palestinian community. I would let them speak for themselves on if they’ve been to Gaza. You know, I don’t have any — we don’t have any information to share about that. We want to be really mindful that the — this meeting and many meetings that we’ve held had have been private. We want to respect that and so, just going to leave it there. I think what is important, though — like, I understand the question.
KHALID: [Inaudible] updates —
JEAN-PIERRE: Wait. No, no. No, no, no.
KHALID: — from, you know, what the situation tangibly looks like.
JEAN-PIERRE: — no, I — I understand, right? I — I get what you’re saying — the importance of hearing from folks who have been on the ground in Gaza. I totally understand that, but I think it’s also important that the President is hearing directly from the community — directly from the community — who are — some of them — are personally affected by what’s happening in Gaza, right? And so, the fact that senior White House officials are having those conversations — tough conversations — is important — that the fact that the President has done so as well is important. But I — I hear your question, but we are also hearing from folks from the community having these sit-down conversations. the community leaders that were here yesterday — and met with the President and the Vice President — they asked for a working-group conversation and we listened and we made that happen and the President heard directly from them what they are going through, what they see, how painful it has been for them. So, I think that’s important as well. We can’t — we can’t — not — you know — um — lift that up as well.
