It must be difficult to be the official spokeswoman for a White House plagued by the perception that its occupant is a liar and his family is corrupt, but that’s what White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre signed up for.
Often visibly exasperated by any specific question from the press pool, she of the corkscrew curls is well known and widely mocked for evading direct answers. She often scolds reporters in a tone more appropriate to a mother correcting her children for rude behavior, as if those rules of etiquette apply to serious adult business at the White House. Using the most powerful word in a displeased liberal’s arsenal, Jean-Pierre wagged her finger at reporters for telling an “inappropriate” joke in early summer.
Now, the spokeswoman appeared to be at a complete loss for words when reporters asked her about recent allegations that President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, asked the State Department to help him win a business contract. The alleged request happened with Joe Biden was still serving as vice president under Barack Obama.
Reporter Selina Wang raised the issue at a press conference and asked Jean-Pierre whether President Biden was concerned about the allegations, what his reaction might be, and whether he worried about how this might appear to American citizens.
Jean-Pierre fell back on her usual tactic of saying that the question about about a “private citizen” (Hunter Biden), and then trotted out a list of the usual talking points about the ethical rectitude of the Biden administration. Her answer, as usual, was not responsive to what the reporter asked. More, she seemed nervous as she stuttered through her answer.
She said, “. . . the President has never, has never done business with his son, and, uh . . .” amid a long-winded “answer” that had more words than meaning. Jean-Pierre said reporters should direct these questions to Hunter Biden’s own personal representatives.
The state department recently released heavily redacted documents describing the request from Hunter Biden, but this came only after an eight-month-long battle with the New York Times, which had filed a Freedom of Information Act Request. The documents showed that Hunter Biden had contacted the State Department in 2015 looking for a leg up to secure a business contract for Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company on whose board he sat at the time.
