President Biden’s political life White House’s ‘reporter questions and spokesperson fight’
US President Biden’s political life has been condensed into ‘reporter questions and battles with spokespersons’ at the White House.
The White House press conference hall degenerated into a shouting match on the 8th, with spokeswoman Carine Jean-Pierre repeatedly dodging questions about the president's health and whether the Parkinson's disease doctor's visit to the White House was about the president and attempting to downplay her answers.
When the spokesperson responded to reporters' inquiries by inexplicably citing "security reasons," reporters responded that despite the White House having already disclosed the visitor's neurosurgeon's real name and confirmed the visit, the spokesperson said, "The doctor had some He responded by yelling that he “deserves to have his privacy guaranteed.”
The New York Times reported earlier on the 8th that Dr. Kevin Cannard, a neurologist and movement disorder specialist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, had visited the White House eight times in eight months according to official visitor records, based on White House visit records. The conflict at the press conference was released as a transcript.
Accordingly, at 9:40 p.m. on the 8th, White House physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor said in a statement, "President Biden has never seen a neurologist other than an annual physical exam," and most of Dr. Cannard's visits were to treat other people working at the White House. It was expressed as being related to something.
At the White House daily briefing this afternoon, when press secretary Jean-Pierre asked about Dr. Cannard even after reporters had reported this record, the spokesman did not acknowledge his visit to the White House and directly clashed with reporters.
The reason for the refusal, the spokesperson said, was “security reasons” and “right to privacy.”
In response, CBS News White House correspondent Ed O'Keefe loudly told the press secretary, "You're not answering a very basic and direct question."
"I'm saying he's seen a neurologist three times," the spokesperson said. "That's what I'm sharing with you. That's why he had to see a neurologist every time he had a physical. This is the answer to that question." .
The CBS reporter responded, "No, that's not true," and the spokesperson responded, "No, that's true. That's right."
The reporter asked again. “Was it specifically because of the President’s condition that Dr. Kevin Cannard came to the White House?”
A spokesperson responded, "We told you that we cannot share names for security reasons. We cannot share names, and we cannot share the names of specialists broadly, from dermatologists to neurologists."
In response, several reporters in the briefing room accused Spokesperson Jean-Pierre of withholding important information about the president's health.
Minutes after speaking with reporters, Jean-Pierre's spokesman told reporters in the room that he was displeased with the way he was being interrogated.
"We do our best to provide the information we have at the time, that's what we do," the spokesperson added. Responding to the earlier question, "It's really, really unfair. “I feel uncomfortable about things,” he said.
“I want to be very, very clear here,” he said moments later, adding that “personal attacks” were “not right.”
The White House briefing room turned into a fight for political life after President Biden's politically disastrous debate on the 27th of last month, and the NYT reported, "The atmosphere in the briefing room has become more tense for several days."
The AP said, "Internal drama. Leaks. Second guessing. The pressure and chaos swirling after Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance are causing fractures in a White House hitherto characterized by discipline and loyalty."
The AP continued, "Over the past three years, the Biden administration has operated mostly restrained and stable, defined by flaunting its policies and avoiding palace intrigues. Aides have generally kept criticism of their superiors or their jobs out of the public eye. “I stopped doing it, but that hasn’t been the case recently,” the report said.