Karine Jean-Pierre shocks White House briefing with response to combative question: ‘Jesus’
White House press secretary attempted to to wrap-up the press briefing after a reporter asked about President Biden being ‘corrupt’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had an unofficial one-word response to a reporter who asked a pugnacious question about President Joe Biden being “corrupt”.
“Jesus.”
During Wednesday afternoon’s White House press briefing, Ms Jean-Pierre was joined by National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby to answer questions from the press.
Mr Kirby decided to take a final question from New York Post reporter Steven Nelson who questioned how the White House responds to “the majority of Americans” who believe President Joe Biden is “corrupt”.
After asking the question, Ms Jean-Pierre could be heard off-camera responding, “Jesus”. However, Ms Jean-Pierre’s comment was not listed on the official transcript of the press briefing.
Mr Nelson posed his question by first listing various negative recent stories about Mr Biden including investigations into his and the Biden family’s businesses, as well as polling that found most Americans believe Mr Biden was involved in his son’s controversy abroad.
“There’s, of course, evidence that the president interacted with his relative’s associates from China, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine,” Mr Nelson added to his list of negative stories.
He then asked: “So what do you say to the majority of Americans who believe that the president is himself corrupt?”
The combative question left Mr Kirby and Ms Jean-Pierre nearly speechless for a moment.
The White House Press Secretary could be heard responding with, “Jesus” while Mr Kirby responded, “Wow”.
The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.
Ms Jean-Pierre quickly interjected and said: “We’ve got to wrap this up.”
But Mr Kirby was able to give Mr Nelson a response indicating he would need to go to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for comment on a recent Internal Revenue Service whistleblower accusing Mr Biden of accepting bribes.
He also added that Mr Biden already addressed some of the accusations that Mr Nelson mentioned and said: “There’s nothing to these claims.”
Later on, Mr Nelson confronted Ms Jean-Pierre about the White House continuing to pre-screen reporters before indoor events which led to a short back-and-forth between the two.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments