With no White Home press briefing since October 30, Thursday’s briefing was the primary since Tuesday’s normal election and, with the huge crimson wave yielding a Trump presidency and probably a Republican Congress, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confronted a room of reporters (ostensibly most being supporters) filled with questions in regards to the administration’s response to this thorough rebuke.
Beginning on the finish of the briefing, Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich patiently sat and heard Jean-Pierre’s solely definitive excuse be that pandemic fallout was why Democrats have been shellacked, so she had sufficient.
After a follow-up to a query from The Washington Submit’s Matt Viser about any probability President Biden would pardon son Hunter, Heinrich learn a viral tweet from Congressman Richie Torres (D-NY) earlier than questioning: “[I]s the administration, marketing campaign, the Democratic Celebration, wanting on the pandemic because the trigger moderately than — is that simpler than wanting within the mirror?”
Jean-Pierre doubled down on “respecting” what voters determined and that “incumbents” throughout the Group of Seven nations have “fairly constantly” been blamed for the pandemic upheavals. An extended, winding phrase salad later, Heinrich was extra direct:
However is that examination occurring in any respect inside, although?…[T]his administration’s message to tens of millions of People that they’re going to get up the day after the election if Trump gained and have their rights stripped away, that democracy would crumble and the President mentioned in the present day we’re going to be okay. So how do — how do you sq. that?
As proven within the above video, Jean-Pierre provided a non-committal reply and promise for a peaceable transition, which led Heinrich to interject: “So, you’re saying that main by instance is the message to people who find themselves fearful primarily based on what the messaging was in regards to the stakes of what would occur?”
Jean-Pierre wasn’t amused and informed Heinrich she was “simply twisting every little thing round and that’s actually unfair” since she had “been standing right here making an attempt to be very respectful to what occurred the final two nights — uh — two nights in the past, being respectful.”
Rewinding again to the start, issues began off straightforward and nearly like a gaggle remedy session. The AP’s Zeke Miller twice requested whether or not Biden believes he feels any accountability or “take any accountability for his social gathering’s defeat,” together with right here:
AP’s @ZekeJMiller: “[W]hen the President spoke in a bit of bit in the past, one factor he didn’t do was take any accountability for his social gathering’s defeat on Tuesday evening. Does he really feel any sense of accountability for the end result? Does he really feel he would have — he ought to have executed issues… pic.twitter.com/qmOEDuVAPi
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 7, 2024
His third query was a foolish softball of unhappiness, questioning if Biden “really feel[s] like he has let down America’s allies and companions that now somebody with a really completely different worldview than him will now be within the Oval Workplace.”
CBS’s Nancy Cordes saved urgent on this “regrets” angle:
CBS’s @NancyCordes: “Does the President have any regrets about when he selected to go away the race or any regrets about deciding to run for a second time period?”
KJP: “Um — so — look — um — the President could be very pleased with what he was in a position to accomplish. He was very proud and when he made… pic.twitter.com/tp77SSuRim
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 7, 2024
ABC’s Selina Wang adopted with an essential line of questioning that Jean-Pierre tellingly didn’t give a agency reply to:
ABC’s @SelinaWangTV: “Does President Biden consider he might have gained if he stayed on this race?”
KJP: “President Biden believes that he made the appropriate choice when he determined to step apart — uh — and — uh — instantly endorsed the Vice President and also you noticed the social gathering come… pic.twitter.com/zGHrGNdGlV
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 7, 2024
Reuters’s Jeff Mason made it much more private for Jean-Pierre and her aides, noting the “criticism within the final couple of days instantly addressed at President Biden for among the questions which have already been requested — working within the first place or not stepping apart quicker.”
“A few of that criticism has additionally been directed at his crew and the advisors round him for advising him to do what he did. Are you able to handle that criticism,” he puzzled.
Apparently, Jean-Pierre appeared to tout Biden’s rise to the presidency as a backdoor means of claiming sure to earlier questions on whether or not Biden would have gained this time:
CNN’s Kayla Tausche snuffed out this rosy image about voters having spent years clamoring for a second Biden time period:
CNN’s @KaylaTausche: “You talked in regards to the affect that the 2022 midterms had on the President’s considering to determine to run for reelection. However, round that point in 2023, polls confirmed that roughly 80 p.c of People believed at the moment that the President was too outdated to… pic.twitter.com/HAdUQWpNuQ
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 7, 2024
In a follow-up, she hit the nail on the pinnacle: “However round that point in 2023, the President’s crew additionally very firmly inspired different rising stars, luminaries within the social gathering, individuals who had participated within the primaries within the 2020 cycle — um — to rally behind the President and to not contemplate their very own ambitions. Was that the improper name?”
After Tausche, it felt like a voicing of laments by liberal reporters questioning what’s going to occur to leftist priorities when Trump takes workplace (click on “increase”):
SWAPNA VENUGOPAL RAMASWAMY [USA Today]: So, does the President consider that he might have beat Donald Trump?
(….)
RAMASWAMY: So, Republicans have threatened to repeal the Inflation Discount Act. Does the White Home have any plans to take any actions to safeguard among the measures equivalent to, you already know, clear vitality investments, as an example?
(….)
JON DECKER [Gray TV]: One of many points debated, mentioned fairly a bit in the course of the course of the marketing campaign was the problem of reproductive rights. Is the White Home, President involved that with a Republican within the White Home, Republicans controlling the Senate, a brilliant conservative majority on Supreme Court docket on the very least — we don’t know what’s going to occur within the Home — that reproductive freedoms for girls will probably be rolled again?
(….)
KEN THOMAS [Wall Street Journal]: President-elect Trump has heard from a variety of world leaders, uh, for the reason that election. Xi, Macon, Zelenskyy, Netanyahu. What’s the stage of concern that Trump might attempt to conduct overseas coverage on this transition interval and — and get in the best way of among the President’s overseas coverage [inaudible]?
(….)
THOMAS: And does the President see this election as a setback to among the efforts he’s been making to attempt to get the hostages launched to attempt to, you already know, convey peace to — to Gaza?
(….)
DANNY KEMP [AFP]: Does President Biden concern for Ukraine’s future after Donald Trump’s victory on condition that he’s — you already know, talks about slicing help, about pushing by a peace deal?
(….)
KEMP: Vladimir Putin mentioned in the present day he was prepared to speak to Donald Trump. Would that be a good suggestion?
(….)
ANITA POWELL [Voice of America]: And would [inaudible] with the following administration could also be finalizing the deal and getting the credit score for that, in the event you wind it up?
(….)
POWELL: After which, at APAC and on the G-20, what’s the President’s message to China and the opposite 19 members of the G20, particularly vis-a-viv local weather change, which, you already know, President Trump has a really completely different coverage?
(….)
GERREN KEITH GAYNOR [theGrio]: Contemplating the end result of the election, what’s the White Home’s message to black and brown communities, LGBTQ People who’re afraid of the vulnerabilities of what Trump administration given some coverage proposals like eliminating DEI mechanisms, banning LGBTQ — bans in healthcare and lecture rooms and the way is the — is the president occupied with methods he can advance or protect civil rights — uh — his agenda in these remaining days?
Whereas as regards to the ridiculous, Time journal’s Brian Bennett had this:
IRONY ALERT!
Time’s Brian Bennett: “You realize, Donald Trump had categorized paperwork at Mar a Lago that he didn’t safe. Does the President have considerations about data being given to Donald Trump within the subsequent 74 days as a part of the transition that Donald Trump wouldn’t take… pic.twitter.com/Vcoz1vf7Sl
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 7, 2024
Wang’s ABC colleague Karen Travers had this fascinating query many liberals should be considering fearing now that America’s elected a person they discover so odious:
ABC’s @KarenTravers: “We’ve heard the President say just lately and the summer season that the — former President Trump’s imaginative and prescient for America is darkish and it is not who we’re. However given the outcomes on Tuesday evening, does he assume he misjudged the place the nation is true now?”
KJP: “Look, the… pic.twitter.com/025vpfVH7O
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 7, 2024
Behind Heinrich, the questions of the briefing got here through NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez. He began with this stinging probe about Biden’s white-hot descriptions of Donald Trump as a menace to democracy:
NBC’s @GabeGutierrez: “Just a bit bit earlier, you mentioned that the White Home’s view when it got here to reproductive rights didn’t change from pre- and post-election. The President repeatedly referred to Donald Trump as a menace to democracy over and over, and this morning… pic.twitter.com/erQByf8SWq
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 7, 2024
After a follow-up and unrelated query, he concluded by invoking the viral tweet:
NBC’s @GabeGutierrez: “Senator Bernie Sanders — he says that — he has instructed that social gathering management deserted the working class. What is the White Home response to that?”
KJP: “I imply, look, clearly we respect Senator Sanders. He is been a companion with us in most of the… pic.twitter.com/OPKxapupq4
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 7, 2024
Previous to Heinrich, Actual Clear Politics’s Philip Wegmann was up and tried once more on Gutierrez’s questions:
.@PhilipWegmann: “Does the President nonetheless stand by his description of the previous president, now president-elect, as an existential menace to democracy?”
KJP: “I haven’t got the rest to share past what I mentioned. The President believes, when he mentioned it on the time, he… pic.twitter.com/5NZ1QQWeYY
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 7, 2024
Wegmann additionally introduced up considerations the federal forms might already be working to undermine a second Trump administration (click on “increase”):
WEGMANN: What’s President Biden’s message to profession civil servants who will carry over into the following administration. Does President Biden consider that they need to be absolutely cooperative as the following president seeks to place his agenda into motion?
JEAN-PIERRE: Totally cooperative?
WEGMANN: Not sluggish issues down.
JEAN-PIERRE: Oh, no. Completely, no.
WEGMANN: Republicans are voicing a variety of frustration.
JEAN-PIERRE: We’re — we’re saying that we would like a great, a peaceable transition. We wish an efficient, environment friendly transition. That’s what we’re saying, and that’s within the President’s administration — profession, political — uh — we need to guarantee that that transition occurs in an orderly means — uh — and we’re not trying to decelerate something. We wish it to occur — to occur. That’s what the American folks deserve. This isn’t political right here, of us. This isn’t about politics. That is about the appropriate factor to do for the American folks. They’ve decided and we’re respecting that.
To see the related transcript from the November 7 briefing, click on right here.
