Jean-Pierre Ends Briefing as Reporter Demands an Africa Summit Question (December 8, 2022)

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ended her Dec. 8, 2022, briefing after a reporter demanded a question about the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, a gathering of nearly 50 African heads of state in Washington the next week. “Karine, why is it so hard to take a question on the U.S.-Africa Summit, when the President is meeting 50 African leaders — the biggest gathering of leaders of his administration?” the reporter asked. “Why is it hard for you to give me a question?” [1]

Moments later, after a back-and-forth over who had cut off whom, she was done: “Okay. Thanks, everybody. I’ll see you tomorrow” [1]. The video above shows the end of that briefing. Quotes are from the official White House transcript [1], and the White House press pool’s report records that the briefing ran from 12:50 to 1:40 p.m. [2].

”Can You Take a Question on the U.S.-Africa Summit?”

The exchange started near the end of the briefing. “Can you take a question on the U.S.-Africa Summit?” the reporter called out. “Go ahead,” Jean-Pierre said. The reporter asked again, and she said, “I — go ahead. Go ahead” [1].

Then the reporter made the case. “Karine, why is it so hard to take a question on the U.S.-Africa Summit, when the President is meeting 50 African leaders — the biggest gathering of leaders of his administration?” [1]

“It is not hard. I’ve answered — I —” Jean-Pierre began.

“No, it is hard, because it’s been months. You don’t —”

“Would you let me answer the question? Or are you going to —”

“I don’t want to yell, but you don’t give us (inaudible)” [1].

”You Shut Me Down”

The cross-talk got worse from there. “Okay. I’m trying to answer your question,” Jean-Pierre said, and called on another reporter. When the first reporter tried again, she said: “I just tried. You wouldn’t let me” [1].

“I just tried, and you would not let me, sir,” she said, and after another interruption, “so your colleague is going to ask a question” [1].

The reporter tried once more: “So let — so let me ask you a question on the U.S.-Africa Summit.”

“No, I just — I literally just tried to answer your question. You shut me down. So now your colleague is going to —”

“Okay, so let me ask the question first, before you answer it.”

“Okay. Thanks, everybody. I’ll see you tomorrow” [1].

A Packed News Day

The summit was not the only story that day. That morning, President Biden had announced that basketball star Brittney Griner was coming home. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walked into the Roosevelt Room with Griner’s wife and Secretary of State Antony Blinken at 8:38 a.m., the pool reported [2].

Reporters also pressed Jean-Pierre on the price: Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, freed in the swap. Asked whether the administration still had security concerns about Bout, Jean-Pierre said the president “did not make this decision lightly,” adding, “we are always going to stay vigilant” [1].

The Summit

The White House had been talking up the event all week. A day earlier, Jean-Pierre had told reporters, “We’ve invited 49 African heads of state to Washington, D.C., for a three-day summit to highlight how the U.S. and African nations are strengthening our partnerships” [4].

On a background call that same Dec. 8, a senior administration official said the president had invited 49 African heads of state “plus the AU Chair Commissioner.” Four countries that had been suspended from the African Union after unconstitutional changes of government, Guinea, Sudan, Mali and Burkina Faso, were left off the list [3].

”Discriminating Against Me”

The frustration in the briefing room boiled over three months later. On March 20, 2023, as the cast of “Ted Lasso” waited to talk about mental health, a reporter interrupted Jean-Pierre before she could begin. “I would like to request that you call on everyone from across the room,” the reporter said. “You’ve been discriminating against me and discriminating against some people in the briefing room” [5].

“It’s been seven months. You’ve not called on me,” the reporter went on. Other reporters, addressing the reporter as “Simon,” shouted, “Decorum, please” and “Let her start” [5].

“Fun times. Welcome, guys,” Jean-Pierre told her guests. When a reporter apologized to the actors, she added, “Yes, I apologize.” Jason Sudeikis answered: “It’s all good. It’s all good” [5].

By the Numbers

49: African heads of state invited to the summit, plus the African Union chair [3][4].
3 days: the length of the summit [4].
4: African Union-suspended countries not invited [3].
50 minutes: the length of the Dec. 8 briefing, according to the pool [2].
7 months: how long the reporter in the March 2023 clash said they had gone without being called on [5].

What Happened Next

The summit got its spotlight. The next day, Jean-Pierre opened her briefing with the summit schedule. “On Wednesday, the President looks forward to hosting the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit,” she said, adding that he would speak at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, hold a small group meeting with leaders and host a summit dinner in the East Room, and that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan would preview the summit from the briefing room on Monday [7].

The invite list drew questions. On Dec. 12, a reporter asked Sullivan why Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea, where the administration had raised human rights concerns, were invited when Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua had been left out of that year’s Summit of the Americas. “Well, we have a common bar for human rights the world over,” Sullivan said. He explained that invitations were worked out with the African Union: the four suspended countries and Eritrea were not invited, “and everyone else was invited” [6].

For more of Jean-Pierre’s answers checked against the record, see the Karine Jean-Pierre record page.