Karine Jean-Pierre Loses Control of Briefing

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had a fiery press conference yesterday as she dodged questions about a White House doctor seeing President Joe Biden. The biggest point of contention was whether a neurologist who specializes in Parkinson’s disease had visited multiple times in the past year (as reported by the New York Times).

Instead of having answers ready for the bombardment of questions, Jean-Pierre lost control of the press conference. Fox News reports on the chaotic briefing:

Reporters largely focused on reports that Dr. Kevin Cannard, a neurologist from Walter Reed Military Medical Center who specializes in Parkinson’s disease, met several times with Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, in the White House over the past year.

But during the daily press briefing, Jean-Pierre repeatedly would not confirm Cannard’s name as the visiting doctor to reporters, citing security and privacy concerns despite the fact that Cannard was listed in the public visitor logs. . . .

CNN’s Kayla Tausche recounted the experience, noting there was frustration throughout the press corps.

“It was an extremely contentious mood in the room with frustration evident among the press corps for how hard it was to get very basic answers about whether the president had been seen any more than three times by this specialist, who has specialties in neurology but also expertise in Parkinson’s and who they had been treating,” Tausche said.

I’m not pointing any fingers here. I just wish the White House had provided better answers to direct questions regarding President Biden’s health. By being unprepared, the press secretary is damaging the Administration and Biden’s reelection campaign even more.

What’s very interesting is the back-and-forth Jean-Pierre had with Ed O’Keefe of CBS News, who was extremely frustrated with the White House’s inconsistent messaging. This wasn’t Peter Doocy from Fox News who was arguing with the press secretary – it was a member of the mainstream media that until recently had backed the President.

It’s not just the media that’s revolting against President Biden. We also have news that a House Democrat Caucus met today to determine the future of Biden’s candidacy. Representative Steve Cohen (TN-9) admitted that the party had no consensus on Biden remaining the nominee.

The problem is the massive headache that comes from replacing a presidential candidate this late in the game. If Vice President Kamala Harris is not the party’s nominee, then most of the hundreds of millions in campaign contributions would be returned to donors. And what about funders refusing to give more money to Biden’s reelection campaign? The far Left is in total disarray right now.

In other news, yesterday Columbia University reassigned four deans for “very troubling” text messages containing antisemitic rhetoric.

ACLJ Senior Counsel for International and Government Affairs Jeff Ballabon reacted to the news:

There were four deans implicated. They’re using all kinds of weasel words, but only three of them have been reassigned – haven’t even been fired, as far as we can tell. They’ve lost their current positions, but they’re still keeping their jobs. We don’t know what their jobs will be yet. And the fourth . . . seems to be keeping his job altogether, and he’s just as bad as the rest, and they report to him. . . . But this is an institutional endemic problem at many universities, and especially at Columbia University. From the top down is a deep corrupt rot. And that’s why the students . . . and outside agitators feel free to use the Columbia campus as a place to camp out and call for genocide against the Jews.

We will keep an eye on what happens to the deans who were reassigned.

As you recall, the ACLJ explicitly condemned the pro-Hamas demonstrations that took over college campuses in the spring. We also intervened to aid Jewish college students who were being attacked. We’ll see what happens when students return from summer break next month.

The ACLJ also just had a victory for a Jewish professor who faced antisemitic discrimination in Maryland. Her case has been going on for several years, and though the wheels of justice might take a long time, she has received justice. The ACLJ remains committed to helping others who are facing discrimination because of their Jewish ethnicity.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s chaotic press conference. Actor and country music singer John Schneider also joined the show to discuss his new album, Made in America.

Watch the full broadcast below: