On 6/2/2022, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre got testy with reporters asking questions about who briefed Joe Biden on the baby formula shortage, and when. She refused to tell the public when Biden was briefed on the baby formula shortage. Reporters grilled Jean-Pierre about the information flow to Joe Biden related to the baby formula crisis just one day after Biden’s disastrous roundtable with infant formula executives. Jean-Pierre was quizzed repeatedly during her daily press briefing on what the president knew, when he knew it, and who exactly told him. And she gave evasive answers, saying it was ‘senior staff’ who went through ‘regular channels’ to deliver the information. NBC”s Kelly O’Donnell asked, saying without a specific answer it looked like the administration was being “evasive.” “Can we asked you to go back on the issue of who briefed the president on baby formula. To say there was no specific person is not a satisfactory answer. When you have senior assistants to the President. There is a paper trail I’m sure about briefings to the president. There’s a Domestic Policy Council. There’s a Chief of Staff. At some point we need to know who would have been the most likely person to talk to him,” she said.
Jean-Pierre responded: “I think what what I’m trying to say there’s so many issues that come up.” O’Donnell pressed her again. “It looks evasive not to not have the most senior people in the White House willing to say I had a conversation with the president about it,” she said, adding: “We’re also all reporting on the consumer side of it, of what you’re doing, putting out and trying to get information. But we’re also trying to understand the information flow in this White House and it’s important for us to get that answer which is why we’re going to keep asking.” “You have every right to keep asking,” Jean-Pierre told her. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Did the President have any conversations with any cabinet secretaries or the FDA commissioner once he was confirmed in February, about the formula shortage before April?” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Jean-Pierre. “I don’t have any meetings to read out.” She was grilled by reporters on 6/1/2022 and had no additional answers when asked about the issue again on 6/2/2022.
“The president deals with issues on a regular basis, and that boils up to him. And it’s just – there’s no specific person that I can call out to you. But it’s the regular way that we move forward through the regular channels. I don’t have a specific person but that’s kind of how it goes on any issue, not just this one. It goes through regular channels and senior White House staff,” she said.
Jean-Pierre’s lack of details prompted one White House correspondent to warn her that the journalists would keep pressing her for specifics. Another reporter repeatedly asked Jean-Pierre who briefed Joe Biden on the baby formula crisis. “To say there was no specific person is not a satisfactory answer. When you have senior assistants to the president, there’s a paper trail about briefings to the president…” the reporter said. Jean-Pierre refused to answer the question.
Another reporter repeatedly asked her when exactly in April was Biden briefed about the baby formula crisis. Jean-Pierre delivered a word salad and brought up climate change in order to distract from the question. She also blamed the crisis on Abbott, which had to close its Michigan plant in February after bacteria contamination, and the Food and Drug Administration. “The FDA moved too slowly,” she said.
Washington Post’s Tyler Pager followed up, saying she wasn’t answering his question: “That doesn’t answer the question about when the president was informed and whether or not he is satisfied with his staff.” “I’m telling you the process. I’m telling you what happened. I’m telling you that the FDA moved too slowly. I’m telling you that this happened on the side of Abbott and this what FDA tried to do,” Jean-Pierre responded. “You may not like my answer, but that is the way that we see it in answering your question there.”
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“Evasive” answers, quizzed repeatedly but still not saying Who Or When, just regular channels, blames ‘slow’ baby formula crisis.