Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House Press Secretary, addressed the consequences of President Joe Biden’s performance in the CNN debate on Tuesday. During the press conference, a reporter directly inquired whether there was any concealment of information regarding the president’s health.
Several Democrats have advocated for the replacement of 81-year-old Biden following his performance against Donald Trump. During Tuesday’s White House press conference, numerous issues were raised regarding the president’s health.
Jean-Pierre stated that the president was experiencing a “cold” during the debate. When questioned about whether he had taken any medication that could have affected his performance, she just stated that he was not taking any medication for a common cold.
“Is anyone in the White House hiding information about the president’s health or his ability to do the job day to day?” NBC News reporter Kelly O’Donnell asked Jean-Pierre.
“Absolutely not,” the press secretary said.
“Given the fact that it’s more than a bad night when his political future is threatened, would he be willing to provide more medical information? Would he be willing to have Dr. O’Connor provide more to answer these questions?” O’Donnell asked before being dubbed “Kelly O” by Jean-Pierre.
“Kelly O, I certainly understand the question, I appreciate the question, but what we have provided has been very transparent,” she said.
O’Donnell noted the last major health update came in February.
“It wasn’t too long ago. It was indeed this year,” Jean-Pierre countered.
O’Donnell expressed concern on Biden’s lack of live interviews since the debate. It was revealed on Tuesday that he will be having his first television interview since the debate with George Stephanopoulos.
“We’ve now gone several days where he has only done teleprompter comments, he’s not taken questions, I know you’ve announced a press conference, I appreciate that, and an interview, we appreciate that but there is a period of time here where the public is trying to understand what happened and the president could help to answer that by engaging with us in an unscripted way right now,” O’Donnell said.
Jean-Pierre resisted, observing that the president promptly joined his supporters after the debate and has actively campaigned in four states since then.
“In those two and half days or so after the debate, he went to four states and engaged with supporters, engaged with American people, everyday people, heard directly from them, and let’s not forget when we landed in North Carolina, I think it was like 2 a.m. in the morning, he engaged with supporters there as well so the president has been out there, he’s been listening to supporters. It’s something that he loves to do,” she said.