Jean-Pierre shows her displeasure when reporter rejects her excuse on Biden's 'cheat sheet' controversy
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre showed her displeasure on Thursday when a reporter refused to buy her claims about President Joe Biden's press conference "cheat sheet."
What is the background?
At a press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday, a photographer captured an image of a card Biden held in his hand, telling him which reporters to call on and, seemingly, providing the president with advance knowledge of the questions that the pre-selected reporters would ask.
The image showed that Los Angeles Times reporter Courtney Subramanian had been selected to ask the first question. The question she asked at the press conference was not word-for-word identical to what Biden had on his card, but the content of the question was the same.
What did KJP say?
In response to questions from Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, Jean-Pierre denied the question was submitted to the White House in advance, instead claiming the White House simply anticipated the question Subramanian would ask.
"We do not have specific questions in advance," Jean-Pierre said, explaining Subramanian was chosen to ask a question because of the number of Koreans who live in California.
But reporter Jon Decker was not buying the explanation.
"Is it your contention that the question on the so-called cheat sheet was not similar to the question that was asked at the press conference?" he interjected.
Jean-Pierre, however, refused to answer the question. She accused Decker of interrupting Heinrich, though the Fox News reporter was not speaking at the time Decker asked his question. In fact, it appeared that Jean-Pierre was about to call on another reporter when Decker asked his question.
04/27/23: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre www.youtube.com
After Heinrich asked two more questions, Jean-Pierre said she would take a question from the back of the press room — Decker sits toward the front — and he called her out on it.
"You literally just told me you would come back to me," he said.
Accusing Decker of "screaming," Jean-Pierre responded, "but now we’re running out of time." She never called on Decker and she did not answer his question, either directly or in substance.
What did the LA Times say?
The Los Angeles Times denied that Subramanian submitted her question in advance of the press conference.
"Our reporter did not submit any questions in advance of the Q&A with President Biden. Courtney Subramanian covers the White House for the Los Angeles Times. As such, she is in regular contact with the White House press office seeking information for her reporting. You would have to ask the White House who prepared the document for the president and why they included that question," said Hillary Manning, VP of communications for the LA Times.
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