During Monday's White House press briefing, the first of its kind in weeks, videos of former President Barack Obama guiding President Joe Biden off of the stage at a Los Angeles fundraising event came up multiple times. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre became particularly irate as she got into it with reporters questioning signs of Biden's decline, also insisting that what clips that are out there have been "cheap fakes" put out in "bad faith" and from "right-wing critics of the president," who supposedly have a history of "misinformation."
Biden is senile and decrepit but not sure Obama needed to lead him away. Biden had been applauding moments earlier and then stood there absorbing the applause for a bit when Obama reached out and grabbed his wrist. I bet WH staff is annoyed with Obama. https://t.co/uBqJtGIpfc
— Brit Hume (@brithume) June 16, 2024
"I think that it tells you everything that we need to know about how how desperate, how desperate Republicans are here," Jean-Pierre said when asked about the clips, though she herself came off as desperate. "And instead of talking about the president's performance in office, his legislative wins, what he's been able to do for the American people across the country, we're seeing these deep fakes, these manipulated videos, and it is again done in bad faith."
Especially in such partisan times, it would seem unlikely that Jean-Pierre can expect Republicans to be willing to focus on Biden's supposed "legislative wins." More importantly, such an insistence on her part in no way address how there's been plenty of other concerning examples about the president's cognitive abilities as the 81-year-old runs for another four-year term.
The White House is NOT happy that "right-wing critics of the president" are sharing videos of Biden that call into question his mental and physical fitness.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 17, 2024
"They are 'cheap fakes' video. They are done in bad faith." pic.twitter.com/KaN1b77uEW
Jean-Pierre tried to explain away the Obama-Biden moment with a statement from Obama, offering that "President Obama, President Biden, have a relationship. They are friends. They're like family to each other." Although she initially didn't know what the incident in question about with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni having to pull Biden back, Jean-Pierre quickly emphasized that was "a cheap fake."
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Biden campaign spokesperson Adrienne Elrod has also not only claimed such a video is "disinformation," but that it also should be censored, especially as the president was supposedly fit as he was representing the United States at the G7.
Everyone freaking out about that Biden clip at G7.
— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) June 13, 2024
I found the full video. The longer clip, in context, is even more horrifying. pic.twitter.com/obFINP7RNE
Also during the briefing, Jean-Pierre and Newsmax's James Rosen discussed more of those example, as the press secretary became more visibly irate and even snappy and sarcastic in her responses. She once again continued to go after Republicans, especially for not celebrating Biden's "legislative wins."
As Rosen asked "so this is much ado about nothing and [Biden's] totally normal," Jean-Pierre insisted they "step back" and lambasted Republicans.
In addition to emphasizing how much the videos from the G7 amounted to "cheap fakes," Jean-Pierre also took issue with Rosen for daring to bring up last Monday's Juneteenth event at the White House.
"Okay, let's talk about Juneteenth," Jean-Pierre offered. "The president stood there listening to the music and he didn't dance. Excuse me, I did not know not dancing was a mental, was a health issue," she continued with an attitude, as she also emphasized "that is not just a health issue" that he didn't dance, despite how Biden appeared lost and confused.
Why isn't Biden moving? pic.twitter.com/DA78820xcd
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 11, 2024
Perhaps Jean-Pierre could have benefitted from speaking to some further context, as there were many more concerns from last Monday's event.
Not only was Biden seen standing motionless and with confused expressions on his face, he also unintelligibly slurred his words and emitted strange noises when it was time for him to give remarks.
Biden — slurring — smears Republicans as "ghosts in new garments trying to take us back" as he peddles disgusting lies pic.twitter.com/cbBMNrJkrb
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 11, 2024
BIDEN: "She know long! She knew suhlongasuhijeruhhnied, our freedom can never be secured" pic.twitter.com/Ip44EUEVZt
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 11, 2024
Polls consistently show that voters have serious concerns with Biden's cognitive abilities and his ability to serve as president, as Rosen reminded. "So the majorities of American voters who are telling pollsters repeatedly for years now, that they have serious concerns about this president's cognitive fitness are being misled by cheap fake videos? Is that what you're telling us," Rosen aptly asked.
Jean-Pierre responded by continuing to harp on how there have been "cheap fake" videos over the past few weeks, offering "they're false, they've purposefully been altered." When Rosen asked to confirm "so, [Biden's] fine," what followed was some particularly noteworthy gaslighting as she just stuck to her repeated talking points, rather than a direct "yes" or "no."
"The president has done more in his three years, his three and a half years, as president, than most modern day presidents, and what he's been able to deliver. He's able to do that because he knows what he's doing. He knows how to deliver for the American people," she claimed.
Jean-Pierre then went on to list Democratic pet issues such as the "climate crisis" thanks to the woefully misnamed Inflation Reduction Act and also repeated debunked talking points about how Biden has "create[d]" millions of jobs, at this point 15 million jobs.
"I think that tells you everything that you need to do by looking at his record," Jean-Pierre stressed, going on to claim "and what you're seeing right now is Republicans, instead of talking what I just listed about, what I just talked about, they're really diving into these deep fake videos, and it's in bad faith."
Karine Jean-Pierre gets visibly agitated when repeatedly pressed on various video that appear to show Biden’s declining cognitive abilities. pic.twitter.com/HNgsrZTNWe
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 17, 2024
It's also worth highlighting that by bringing up "cheap fake" multiple times, Jean-Pierre is insinuating is that the American people are too stupid to see for themselves the kind of decline Biden looks to be suffering from.
All of these concerning examples also take place just weeks before the first presidential debate which is set to take place between Trump and Biden for this election, 10 days from now on June 27.
Ah, I thought a deep fake needed to be deep because people can spot the cheap ones pretty easily - so I guess this is a veiled insult at the American people. No matter the length/cut of the video, we can all see his disorientation plain as day.
— Ryan Shucard (@RyanShucard) June 17, 2024
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