So You're Saying It, but Not Saying It? Jean-Pierre's 'Russian Warload' Answer on Prigozhin (August 29, 2023)

Six days after Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash, a reporter asked the White House the obvious question. “The Kremlin, as you’re aware, earlier today said Putin will not attend Prigozhin’s funeral. And we’re just wondering if there is an update on whether the U.S. thinks Putin is behind the Prigozhin plane crash” [1].

“But it seems pretty evident what happened here,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. Then she described Prigozhin, as the official transcript records it: “A Russian warload [warlord] himself — a cold-blooded killer, a cold-blooded murderer” [1].

But she would not make it official. “So you’re — so you’re saying it, but you’re not saying it?” a reporter asked. “It is — it is very clear. It is very clear. I just laid it out. I don’t have any new assessment for you on this,” Jean-Pierre answered [1].

The video above shows the exchange from the Aug. 29, 2023, White House briefing. Quotes are from the official transcripts published by the American Presidency Project [1].

”Predictable — or Predicted”

Jean-Pierre leaned on the president’s words. Biden had said, “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind,” she noted [1].

“And if it’s — if this is what it seems to be — this — this what is — certainly was not just predictable but it was predictable — or predicted, if I sho- — I should say,” she said. “We all — we all know that the Kremlin has a long history of killing its opponents. That is the history of the Kremlin” [1].

”Two Months Later”

She retold the story of the Wagner mutiny. Prigozhin, she said, “became so frustrated by the way that the Russian government was waging its unprovoked war against Ukraine that he criticized Russia’s failing policies” [1].

“And so, he called out the w- — the war’s needlessness and marched on Moscow before — before reaching a deal with Mr. Putin,” Jean-Pierre said. “And so, now, two months later, after he struck that deal, he’s been killed” [1].

”Saying It, but You’re Not Saying It”

The reporter pressed for an official finding. “But when will we have an assessment from the administration on the record?” “I mean, I just said it’s very clear of what happened here,” Jean-Pierre said [1].

A second reporter tried again later: “is the administration concluding that Putin was behind the death of Prigozhin?” “I don’t have any new assessment. I’m just going to leave it to the words that I just gave you,” she said [1].

“Okay. So, the administration has no conclusion at — at this point?” the reporter asked. “I — I just laid out what — what the history of the Kremlin — what Mr. Putin tends to do. I just laid that out. So, it is very — it’s very clear what happened here,” Jean-Pierre answered [1].

Fox News read it as a signal. “The White House on Tuesday appeared to formally acknowledge that the government believes Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was assassinated by Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Fox reported [2].

”Increasingly Confident”

A day earlier, Jean-Pierre had gone only as far as confirming the death. “So — so, we are increasingly confident that Prigozhin died in the plane crash that took place on August 23rd, this past Wednesday. I don’t have any new assessment on th- — on — for you on this,” she said [3].

The same briefing turned to China. Asked whether Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s report that U.S. companies found China “uninvestable” reflected administration thinking, Jean-Pierre said: “I’m just not going to go beyond what she stated” [1].

”Russia Should Release Him Immediately”

Earlier, Jean-Pierre had been asked about a new video of Paul Whelan, the American imprisoned in Russia. “Paul continues to show tremendous courage. That does not change that his circumstances are truly unacceptable, and we will continue to be very clear about that. Russia should release him immediately,” she said [1].

Asked when the video was filmed, she said: “I just don’t have anything to say to — specifically to the video” [1].

By the Numbers

6 days: from the Aug. 23 crash to the briefing [3][1].
10: people killed on the plane [4].
2 months: from the Wagner mutiny to Prigozhin’s death, as Jean-Pierre put it [1].
0: new assessments she offered [1].

What Happened Next

The Kremlin shifted. The next day, a reporter told Jean-Pierre that “The Kremlin acknowledged today that the plane crash that killed Prizhogin [Prigozhin] may have been a deliberate act.” “I don’t have any new assessment or anything to share with what the Kremlin or Russia — the government may have shared,” she said [5].

Putin blamed a grenade. On Oct. 5, 2023, Putin “said Thursday that fragments of a hand grenade have been found in the bodies of people who died in an August crash,” Fox News reported, adding that he said investigators “found no indication that the plane had suffered an ‘external impact’” [4].

Whelan came home. On Aug. 1, 2024, Biden announced that “Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza” were “finally coming home” after a prisoner exchange [6]. For the earlier swap that left Whelan behind, see HYGO News’ page on it.

For more of Jean-Pierre’s slips at the podium, see HYGO News’ Karine Jean-Pierre record page.