White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to allegations of a years-long coverup of Biden’s cognitive decline in her first press briefing since Biden dropped out of the presidential race, and her answer ultimately amounted to a communications blunder.
“It would seem that people in this White House knew that President Biden was slipping, and it was hidden from the American people. So, who ordered White House officials to cover up a declining president?” Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre on Wednesday.
The press secretary immediately denied that there was a concerted effort to trick the American people into believing that Biden was capable of handling the pressures of the office.
“It is not a coverup. I know that is a narrative that you all want. It is not. I’m going to say this again, and you’re going to hear it directly from the president. I hope you listen tonight. I think it’s going to be incredibly powerful and important—the Oval Office. Presidents, as you know, when they make speeches from the Oval Office, it’s because they’re important moments that they want to directly make sure that the American people hear from them. And it’s obviously going to be done in primetime. I would listen to the president,” Jean-Pierre responded, before calling the president’s decision to bow out “historic … unusual” and, finally, “selfless.”
But her denial did nothing to calm speculation surrounding the theory that the White House, his family and the media banded together to cover up Biden’s cognitive decline to keep Democrats in power. Instead, her response seemed to add buckets of chum to the waters.
“‘There’s been no coverup’ is an all-time communications faceplant,” Daily Caller editorial director and WMAL radio host Vince Coglianese said.
The Democrats appear to be trying to thread a needle. Biden is stepping down from the race, but they don’t want him to admit that it is because he cannot handle rigorous presidential duties. To Doocy’s point, if it is about Biden’s mental condition, then they all (elected Democrats, White House staff, and even Vice President Kamala Harris) come under questioning about when and how his health became an obstacle, and why it was concealed from Americans.