White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struggled to explain why President Joe Biden lied for the second time this week about inflation rates.
A reporter asked Jean-Pierre why Biden claimed in the same week that inflation was nine percent when he took office when in reality it was 1.4 percent.
However, the Biden staffer stuttered, struggling to give a straightforward answer for yet another one of Biden’s lies.
Q: Why did Biden claim, twice in one week, that inflation was 9% when he took office — when it was really 1.4%?
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 15, 2024
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Well, uh, you see.... pic.twitter.com/dsiZppXQr5
On Tuesday, Biden claimed that the annual U.S. inflation rate was much higher than what it actually was when he became president four years ago. The inflation didn’t surpass nine percent until 17 months after he took office.
“Inflation has gone slightly up," Biden told Yahoo! Finance's Brian Sozzi. "It was at nine percent when I came in. And it's now down around 3 percent."
The 81-year-old president made the same claim a few days earlier.
“No president has had the run we had in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation. It was nine percent when I came into office, nine percent," Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett.
In 2021, the inflation rate was at 1.4 percent. By June 2022, as he settled into his term, the inflation spiked to nine percent.
Currently, inflation stands at 3.5 percent as of March 2024— which is still above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of two percent.
There has been a stark difference in inflation between Biden’s presidency and former President Donald Trump’s.
When Trump was in office, the average inflation rate was at 1.9 percent, while under Biden, it is 5.6 percent.
The real average weekly earnings rose to 8.2 percent, while it was down 3.9 percent under Biden.
In addition, there have been 36 months with year-over-year inflation at or above three percent. On the contrary, with Trump in office, there were zero months.
White House Economic Advisor Jared Bernstein also skirted around the fact that Biden continues to lie about the inflation rate when asked why the president refuses to take accountability for the economy.
CAVUTO: Why does Biden keep claiming inflation was 9% when he took office — when it was actually 1.4%?
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 16, 2024
BERNSTEIN: "The president talked about how concerned he was for households struggling with prices."
CAVUTO: "That's not what I asked you. Why does he keep misrepresenting… pic.twitter.com/lMaKNfeSOV
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