White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre may have thought that she could make it through Monday's briefing without facing more questions dealing with last week's revelations regarding Hunter Biden's business deals, but she would have been wrong.
Sure, Jean-Pierre did her usual routine of trotting out the National Security Council's John Kirby to filibuster the first portion of Monday's briefing — largely taken up by questions about the situation that unfolded in Russia over the weekend — but even a potential coup attempt against Putin couldn't save Biden's spokeswoman from again having to back away from the microphone, flustered as ever, and end the briefing without answering a question.
The question came from Philip Wegmann of Real Clear Politics who asked one begging for an answer: Given Hunter Biden's attendance at the recent state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Modi, what sort of rules are there concerning the ability of the first family to conduct business on White House grounds?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jean-Pierre did not want to touch that question with a ten foot pole. "So look, um, I'm going to be again, very mindful, because this is all connected to uh, a case that the DOJ is currently overseeing so I'm not going to comment on that, uh specifically," she said, trying to dodge Wegmann's question.
Not for nothing, concerns about things being "connected" are very selective for the White House. Attorney General Merrick Garland — whose DOJ had just reached a sweetheart plea deal with Hunter Biden — was at the state dinner that Hunter also attended.
"But as you know, and we have uh, laid out, uh, very early in this administration when it comes to ethics, when it comes to how we all uh, uh, um, uh, kind of move about uh, and how we have- we respect, uh clearly, the government ethics here and this is a presi- this is an administration that has been incredibly transparent on that, uh, and has put some very strict uh, rules, and so I can speak to that," Jean-Pierre continued, being neither clear or transparent.
"I can speak to how the president has moved forward in making sure that, uh, the people who work for him and himself are held to um, uh, a kind of a strict course of action, but I'm not going to speak to anything that's related to the case." Huh?
Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if Joe Biden has set guardrails for family members looking to conduct business on White House grounds.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 26, 2023
JEAN-PIERRE: "We respect, clearly, the government ethics here." pic.twitter.com/IPLpGymd5E
Wegmann followed up, asking again whether — regardless of Hunter's run-ins with federal law enforcement — there were any rules covering potential business dealings conducted by members of the president's family while at the White House, but Jean-Pierre backed away from the microphone, grabbed her briefing book, and laughed while repeating her refusal to answer. Because... transparency?
The Biden administration has, as is clear to any honest observer, not been transparent. Joe Biden is one of the most inaccessible presidents in recent memory — certainly compared to Trump. The Biden admin has allowed special interests to have essential front-row access to policymaking that only comes to light under scrutiny — Randi Weingarten being allowed to write COVID rules for schools and the National School Boards Association setting up parents at school board meetings as terrorists, to name two.
The White House refused to say anything about the president's classified document scandal and continues to avoid answering any questions about the Biden family businesses. All that Americans get from the White House are attempts to move the goal posts on pressing issues — such as what Joe Biden knew about Hunter's businesses — just more attempts to avoid real accountability.