During Tuesday’s White House briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed formerly anonymous claims that the White House had not been briefed about Monday’s FBI raid at Donald Trump’s home, Mar-a-Lago, and that they learned about the hours-long action the way everybody else did.
After her initial presentation, Jean-Pierre was asked (by a reporter who stumbled over the words “served a search warrant” several times, grasping for the politispeak phrase for “raid”):
On a different topic, the FBI served a search warrant on the former president’s residence in Florida. Was the President or anyone at the White House aware of that search warrant, or has anyone at the White House or the President been briefed in the aftermath of that search warrant being executed?
The answer:
No. The president was not briefed, did not — was not aware of it. No. No one at the White House was given a heads-up. No. That did not happen.
The reporter followed up by asking about the effect of the raid on the current political climate and the optics. Jean-Pierre read the canned answer from her binder:
The Justice Department conducts investigations independently, and we leave any law enforcement matters to them. It would not be appropriate for us to comment on any ongoing investigations. I can say that President Biden has been unequivocal since the campaign. He believes in the rule of law, in the independence of the Justice Department investigations, that those investigations should be free from political influence, and he has held that commitment as President.
She referred all press questions to the Department of Justice and to multiple questions about the optics by saying, “Look, we’re just not going to comment.”
In response to another reporter’s question, Jean-Pierre added more detail to her answer about how the White House learned of the raid.
Look, I’ll say this. You know, the President and the White House learned about this FBI search from public reports. We learned just like the American public did yesterday, and we did not have advance notice of this activity.
Another reporter asked if this action by the Justice Department was handled the way Biden promised the department would function when he nominated Merrick Garland on January 7, 2021, and, after being flustered for a moment, she said it was up to the DOJ to decide if they’d upheld Biden’s standard.
REPORTER: “Does the president believes that the Justice Department acted accordingly?”
KJP: *pause* “That’s up for the Department of Justice to decide.” pic.twitter.com/1GDgUBUtzF
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 9, 2022
She refused to answer any questions from Fox News’s Peter Doocy, even though he started out by asking if Biden considered Trump a political rival, then referenced a statement Biden made that he’d be fortunate to have Trump as his opponent again in 2024. Her curious answer:
All I can tell you, Peter, is that the President intends to run in 2024.
Finally, Doocy asked her a direct question relating to the raid.
Is this White House weaponizing the Justice Department and the FBI against political opponents?
Jean-Pierre attempted to repeat her canned answer:
The President has been very clear from before he was elected…
Blah, blah, blah. Doocy continued to attempt to to ask the yes or no question, and Jean-Pierre continued to not answer the question while claiming she’d answered the question but Doocy just didn’t like it.
“Is this administration weaponizing the Justice Department against political opponents?”
Karine Jean-Pierre REFUSES to answer EVERY question from Fox’s Peter Doocy. pic.twitter.com/5itv6O2GWV
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 9, 2022
Jean-Pierre also declined to say whether or not Biden and Garland spoke on Tuesday.
The assertion that no one at the White House was given a heads-up on a raid in which a search warrant had been obtained on Friday, August 5, to be executed on the residence of a former president, is simply not credible. Period, full stop.
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