In the second White House press briefing since the presidential election and a day before the surreal Oval Office sit-down between President Biden and President-Elect Trump, Fox’s Peter Doocy drew Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s ire when he wonddered “how awkward was” Tuesday’s lunch between Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House.
Jean-Pierre pretended to stammer in confusion as Doocy tried to explain himself: “I don’t even understand. Why would — why would it be awkward? Why would it be awkward? Why would — why would you — but why would — why would you characterize it as awkward? They have regular lunches. Uh — they meet and talk regularly.”
Amid all that hoopla, Doocy expanded: “Because — because the President got squeezed out for her and then she kept him at arm’s length, and then she lost and now, she’s back.”
Jean-Pierre unloaded at Doocy once he made one last go at it:
DOOCY: So, there’s no weirdness about the way that things have unfolded since July 21?
JEAN-PIERRE: Did you see them — did you see them together yesterday as well when they honored our veterans and were together — uh — uh — during the day, making sure that we didn’t forget the brave men and women that fought for this country? Did you see them together yesterday? Did you see the — the show of force together? This is — uh —I’m not even gonna take the premise of this — the question. What I will say is the President and the Vice President had lunch today. They’ve had lunch many times. They have — um — they communicate with each other regularly. They had an opportunity to discuss the last 70 days or so of this administration, how important it is to get things done for the American people, and that’s their focus. That is genuinely their focus.
Moments earlier, Doocy had asked whether Harris would be at the White House Wednesday (no), whether Biden would ask Trump “to pardon his son Hunter” for him since the current President has insisted he wouldn’t, and if Biden would tell Trump about what he believes is the country’s biggest threat (as Obama did in making the case to Trump it was North Korea).
Towards the end of the briefing, Time magazine’s Brian Bennett delivered this missive from the left that Biden take steps to protect illegal immigrants from a Trump Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol:
Time magazine’s Brian Bennett: “President Trump has promised to launch the largest deportation in American history when he becomes president. Are there steps that President Biden is taking in the next 70 days to try to protect certain populations in the United States from… pic.twitter.com/pRmZA50pfa
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 12, 2024
Bloomberg’s Skylar Woodhouse went next and was concerned about the role of X owner, Telsa founder, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk in the incoming Trump administration and concerns he would “reshape maybe the government”:
Bloomberg’s Skylar Woodhouse: “President-Elect Trump — there’s reports that @ElonMusk is having a lot of sway in terms of his decisions, in terms of who President-elect Trump is, you know, having come into his administration, sitting in on meetings with — with foreign leaders,… pic.twitter.com/azg1Dm7vys
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 12, 2024
To see the relevant transcript from the November 13 briefing, click here.
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