White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced renewed backlash from reporters and Twitter users alike after yelling at the press pool during Tuesday’s conference.
After outgoing White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke about the administration’s vaccine efforts, Daily Caller White House correspondent Diana Glebova attempted to ask a question regarding investigations into the origin of the coronavirus. Instead of answering, Jean-Pierre rebuked Glebova for being “disrespectful.”
“We have a process here. I’m not calling out on people who yell. And you’re being, you’re being, you’re being disrespectful to your colleagues, and you’re being disrespectful to our guest,” Jean-Pierre said. “I will not call on you if you yell, and also you’re taking time off the clock because Dr. Fauci has to leave in a couple of minutes.”
Other reporters defended Glebova’s questions which led to Jean-Pierre continuing to yell that she was “done” answering their questions.
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Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listens during the daily briefing at the White House on Nov. 22, 2022.
(Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Social media users quickly condemned Jean-Pierre’s behavior as “unprofessional” and an attack on the press.
Political commentator Dave Rubin remarked, “What a condescending, smug, absolute embarrassment KJP is…”
The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller joked, “An incredible display of threatening anti-journalism. This is dangerous. This is a vile threat to the very foundations of which our free press democracy is based upon. A free press that is allowed to question our government is a sacred virtue for which our Republic must safe gua-“
Washington Free Beacon executive editor Brent Scher tweeted “What does [Jim Acosta] think about this? Attack on the free press?”
“Qs about Covid origins are legitimate and every reporter shld be asking them. This reaction from the WH is really weird,” Hudson Institute senior fellow Rebecca Heinrichs wrote.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tells reporters to not shout questions during a briefing with Dr. Anthony Fauci and COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha at the White House on Nov. 22, 2022.
(Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Barstool Sports blogger Jack McGuire tweeted, “Why [does] she think she’s a 3rd grade teacher.”
“She’s utterly losing control of the press corps because the WH consistently spends an inordinate amount of time taking questions from the same 12 corporate reporters, day in and day out. It’s shameful. On the same day FOIA’s return Fauci’s early planning on the origins of covid,” The Daily Caller editor-in-chief Geoffrey Ingersoll wrote.
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Glebova herself commented on the exchange from her Twitter account.
“I attempted to ask Fauci several times on what he personally did to demand answers into the origins of COVID-19. I always come with honest answers that Americans want to know. That’s why the White House refuses to call on me, and then calls ME ‘disrespectful,’” Glebova tweeted.
In an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital, the Daily Caller editor-in-chief further condemned Jean-Pierre along with her habit of picking only a few friendly reporters to call on at briefings.
“In the wake of Biden’s meeting with Xi, and in the same hour that unredacted emails were released showing Dr. Fauci’s early messaging efforts on Covid origins, we tried to ask the doctor if he had advised the president to press Xi for transparency on covid. KJP immediately bulldogged our reporter to wait for a ‘turn’ that never materialized and respect the ‘process.’ Instead of substance, that ‘process’ resulted in the same parade of dorks asking silly questions like ‘why have masks become a pejorative?’ and how Fauci, who admitted lying to Americans, counters ‘disinformation,’” Ingersoll told Fox News Digital.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks alongside Dr. Anthony Fauci and COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha at the White House on Nov. 22, 2022.
(Win McNamee/Getty Images)
He added, “Jean-Pierre presides over a bush league facsimile of journalism, and the [White House Correspondents’ Association] has facilitated it by constituting pressers as anti-democratically as possible.”
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White House reporters have criticized the way the Biden administration has conducted press conferences since Jen Psaki originally served as the press secretary. In March, several reporters were caught in a tense debate after Associated Press correspondent Josh Boak called an end to a conference after less than 45 minutes. Members of the press accused the administration of prioritizing establishment media pundits.
