WH Press Secretary Abruptly Hangs Up on Radio Hosts after ‘Incredibly Offensive’ Dementia Question
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly hung up the phone on a North Carolina radio show on Tuesday after the host asked about President Joe Biden’s mental state and the stubbornly high prices plaguing consumers.
WBT Charlotte’s Mark Garrison asked Jean-Pierre whether Biden has dementia, considering concerns about the president’s mental acuity are top-of-mind for many voters. Garrison said he spoke to “a number of people” who wanted the answer to that question, but Jean-Pierre responded harshly and called the question “incredibly offensive.” She then accused the host of “taking us down this rabbit hole” before giving her full response.
“Let me be very clear about this: For the past several years, the president’s physician has laid out . . . in a comprehensive way the president’s health. This is a president, if you watch him every day, if you really pay attention to his record and what he has done, you will see exactly how focused he has been on the American people, how historic his actions have been,” Jean-Pierre said.
In late February, Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote in Biden’s current health summary that the president “continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.” Voters, however, have become increasingly concerned about the 81-year-old president’s mental acuity and his ability to serve another four years in office if he’s reelected come November.
“And so I’m not even going to — truly, truly, really — you know, take the premise of your question,” Jean-Pierre told the host. “I think it is incredibly insulting. And so we can, you know, we can move on to the next question.”
Obliging her request, Garrison asked her about rising grocery and gas prices. In response, the White House press secretary said Biden understands the economic situation of everyday Americans because he grew up in a middle-class family in Scranton, Pa.
“He understands how difficult it is for Americans who are sitting around their kitchen table every month trying to figure out what they’re going to pay for. You have to remember when the president walked into this administration, multiple crises were happening: there was COVID, there was the economy that was in a tailspin because of the last administration, because of what President Trump left us with,” she said.
“Now you’re asking me about gas prices. The president took action on gas prices,” she added. “Let’s not forget Russia’s invasion on Ukraine skyrocketed prices of gas and because the president took action, we see we are in a different place than we were in gas prices. Eggs milk, seafood products — all the important groceries, those costs have gone down because of what this president has been able to do.”
Jean-Pierre then wished the radio-show host an “amazing, amazing day” and quickly hung up the phone to the shocked laughter of Garrison and his co-host.
On Tuesday, Biden promoted his administration’s health-care plan on the campaign trail in North Carolina. The White House reportedly sees healthcare as a winning issue this election cycle — an agenda that former president Barack Obama championed while in office.
Following the hostile interview, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said there was nothing wrong with Jean-Pierre’s behavior.
“As she often does when the President travels, Karine had multiple back-to-back interviews with radio stations who were each offered 7 minutes. Once the agreed-upon time was over, she called into the next interview so everyone could get their full-time,” Bates said in a statement to Mediaite. “This particular station chose not to air the full interview and instead artificially attached a sound effect that our phones do not make when calls end.”
This isn’t the first time Jean-Pierre has run press cover for Biden, especially regarding his advanced age. On Biden’s 81st birthday in November, she told reporters there is “no alarm behind the scenes” among Democrats or White House officials regarding Biden’s age.
