White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and White House Correspondents Agency president Kelly O’Donnell recently scolded Newsmax reporter James Rosen for commenting on Biden’s cognitive health. President Biden has drawn serious concern about his mental aptitude following his performance on the debate stage against Donald Trump last week.
O’Donnell was engaged in a back-and-forth inquiry with KJP about how the president is handling skepticism within his own party and whether he will remain in the race. Rosen interrupted her question, suggesting Biden might not even be “awake” to stand before the press and confirm that he will seek the Democratic nomination ahead of November.
O’Donnell asked the press secretary, “Does the President have a duty to review data, like polling, information that’s coming in, donor information, the fears and concerns or anxieties expressed by Democrats? … You’re saying that he’s absolutely running.” KJP affirmed that Biden claimed he will remain committed to his reelection aspirations.
“Well, he’s saying that and I’m sharing with you his view,” Jean-Pierre said. O’Donnell replied, “And we would invite the president to come here and tell us that directly.” KJP acknowledged the feedback from O’Donnell, “Noted, noted Kelly.” However, Rosen interjected, “If he’s awake,” to which O’Donnell quickly admonished the Newsmax White House Correspondent, stating, “That’s inappropriate.”
The White House spokeswoman echoed O’Donnell’s sentiment, stating, “As you heard from your colleague, the president of the WHCA, that’s inappropriate,” she told Rosen. The WHCA president continued her question for KJP, requesting insight as to whether Biden is actively reviewing the inter-party criticism about his presumptive status as the Democratic nominee.
“My question is, information is coming in and assessment is happening within the party. Does he have a duty to review that? Has he closed the door on reviewing the data?” O’Donnell questioned. Despite the clarification, the press secretary didn’t directly answer the question, but informed the press corps that Biden is an analytical president who takes the necessary time to review important information.
“So I’m going to be really mindful, obviously, you’re asking me about campaign numbers and data that’s coming in, and look what I will What I will note is that this is a president that looks at everything, takes in all the information it’s important to him to do so. I don’t want to get into hypotheticals here. That’s not what I’m here to do,” KJP said. Watch the press conference below:
Jean-Pierre doubled down, explaining that she didn’t want to address “hypotheticals,” maintaining that Biden will charge ahead, continuing his supposed “unprecedented record.” She said, “What I can say is, in this moment, we move forward, on building on this unprecedented record that the President has been able to lay out for the American people, and that’s going to be our focus. I don’t want to get into hypotheticals. I don’t want to get ahead into any anything else.”
Later in the conversation, KJP was asked about speculation that the president was “evaluating” the future of his campaign. However, the spokeswoman confidently stated that this information was “absolutely false.” She continued, “That is absolutely false. I saw that reporting. We were not given enough time to get back to that reporting, just a couple of minutes, and we asked the president. President responded directly when asked about this question, because we said that we would, and the President said it is no it is absolutely false. That’s coming directly from him.”
