White House briefing devolves into shouting over questions about Biden’s health
A storm of shouting erupted in the White House press briefing room Monday as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly dodged and refused to answer questions about the president’s health and whether visits to the White House by a Parkinson’s doctor were about the president.
According to official visitor logs, Dr. Kevin Cannard, a neurologist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center who specializes in movement disorders, visited the White House eight times in eight months.
But during Monday’s daily briefing, Ms. Jean-Pierre refused to talk about Dr. Cannard or acknowledge his visits to the White House, even after The New York Times and other news organizations reported on the logs. She cited unexplained “security reasons” and said at other times that the doctor deserved a “measure of privacy,” even though the White House had already released his name and made the visits public.
Several reporters in the briefing room accused Ms. Jean-Pierre of withholding key information about the president’s health. The White House has come under increasing criticism from fellow Democrats and the news media for not being more forthcoming about Mr. Biden’s physical and mental health.
“You’re not answering a very basic, direct question,” CBS News White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe shouted.
“I’m telling you he’s seen a neurologist three times,” Mrs. Jean-Pierre insisted. “That’s what I’m sharing with you. So every time he’s had a physical, he’s had to see a neurologist. So that’s the answer to that question.”
“No, it isn’t,” Mr. O’Keefe replied.
“No, that’s it. That’s it,” said Mrs. Jean-Pierre as the two talked over each other.
“Did Dr. Kevin Cannard come to the White House specifically because of the President’s condition?” Mr. O’Keefe insisted.
“I also told you that for security reasons we cannot share names. We cannot share names,” said Mrs. Jean-Pierre, clearly shocked, “We cannot share names of specialists in general, from a dermatologist to a neurologist.”
“We are angry here about the way information about him has been shared with the press,” Mr O’Keefe said, clearly angry.
“Every time I come back and answer the questions you asked,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said, prompting Mr. O’Keefe to respond: “And then you answer it wrong and you have to come back and clean it up.”
A few minutes after the exchange, Ms. Jean-Pierre told reporters present that she took offense at the manner in which she was questioned.
“We do our best to give you the information that we have at the time, that’s what we do,” she said, calling the questioning “really, really unfair” to her. “I take offense to what just happened at the beginning of this briefing. It’s not okay.”
She later added that “the personal attacks” were “not okay.” “I just want to be very, very clear here.”
The relationship between Ms. Jean-Pierre and reporters has often been rocky. But the mood in the briefing room has grown tense in recent days as the president fights for his political life after his politically disastrous June 27 debate.
