As Townhall reported last week, President Joe Biden's hastily announced address to the nation to respond to Special Counsel Robert Hur's report documenting alarming memory issues displayed by Biden did not go well.
Angrily defending his mental acuity, Biden blundered his way through false statements — such as claiming all the classified documents at his Delaware home were stored in locked or locking file cabinets when some were tossed in a cardboard box in the garage — before demonstrating his trademark lack of memory by confusing the presidents of Mexico and Egypt.
It seemed like political and communications malpractice to send Biden out in front of the cameras, live, and long after the normal hours earlier in the day when Biden is fresher and perhaps less likely to gaffe his way through remarks.
But in Tuesday's White House press briefing, Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed it was a decision made by the principal himself: Joe Biden.
"It was the president's idea," Jean-Pierre said. "You saw the president out- do this- make a statement, take questions from all of you because he wanted to do it," she insisted. Notably, when asked whether anyone in the West Wing advised against Biden's Thursday night address and Q&A, Jean-Pierre wouldn't answer.
"I'm not going to get into private conversations that the president has," she responded to the question. "The president is the president of the United States — if he says he wants to speak directly to the American people, he's going to do that."
Reporter: Whose idea was it for the president to come out and speak last Thursday?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 13, 2024
KJP: It was the president’s idea.
Reporter: Did anyone advise him against it? pic.twitter.com/FMdTMEK1cN
Given the well-reported leaks from Biden aides — complaining that they can't find good times for Biden to hold public events due to worries about gaffes to the construction of a fake White House set in an auditorium adjacent to the West Wing to ensure there's always a teleprompter ready to support Biden — it's hard to believe there wasn't at least some opposition to Biden's address. But, as Jean-Pierre noted, he's the president and able to overrule his aides, even when they may be right to keep him behind closed doors to avoid the outlandish and inaccurate display seen last Thursday that only gave more credence to what Hur's report said of Biden's cognition.
Jean-Pierre also on Tuesday refused to commit to releasing the transcript — even in part or with redactions — from Biden's interview with the special counsel. If Biden, as the White House has insisted, didn't have any trouble remembering when he served as vice president or when his son died, there shouldn't be any issue releasing those portions of the transcript to debunk the narrative. Yet the more time that passes before the transcript is released — if it ever is — the more the White House looks like its fighting a losing battle to pretend Biden is playing with the full deck necessary to lead the country.
Karine Jean-Pierre refuses to say whether the transcripts and recordings from Hur's investigation should be made public. pic.twitter.com/qVPM2Fu77Y
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 13, 2024