I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I agree on something with a member of the legacy media. CBS News political correspondent Ed O’Keefe, whom many readers will recognize as a longtime scribe at the Washington Post, unleashed righteous anger at White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who was trying her darndest to dole out the usual pablum during Friday’s afternoon press briefing.
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The hubbub happened over President Joe Biden’s imminent, weekend summit with three world leaders. The reporters apparently connected the dots from what KJP said, that the Quad [Australia, the U.S., Japan, and India] Leaders’ Summit would feature no press conferences on the official schedule. What was on the agenda? Biden hanging out with the world leaders at his old high school in Claymont (Wilmington), Delaware, for a group speech, and then hosting a dinner.
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The only reason I’m sharing all of those POTUS Twitter-X posts is to give readers the background on the press briefing blow-up. Those were the only images on Friday and Saturday of the President of the United States and the prime ministers.
The WH’s headache began when one of the reporters (it’s unclear who, as his voice is only heard off-camera) pressed KJP about the severe lack of media availability.
Watch:
Jean-Pierre of course made excuses, crying that the media was being given “other opportunities,” and to “see many other things that are going to develop” during the event.
The reporter broke in, “They’re called photo-ops, that’s what you’ve created,” pointing out rightly that a photo-op isn’t a press conference, “which [the media] would prefer.”
KJP was left speechless. That’s when another voice chimed in, the aforementioned O’Keefe, who threw in her face Biden’s promise, at the start of his term, tha this would be the most transparent administration ever:
What baffles people in this room–especially those who are watching this and wondering why we harp on these kinds of things–what baffles us is that this is a president who from Day One committed to be the most transparent president possible
He continued, pointing out that Biden “has given speeches at various events, saying that he stands for and respects the freedom of the press.” The ending, about standing for democracy, is totally chef’s kiss.
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O’Keefe is not wrong. Biden and his administrative apologists are hypocrites. Instead of allowing transparent access, those curated images by the White House photographer (along with a scant, 20-minute joint-speech event, with Biden admitting that his announcement on the cancer “moonshot” pushes the same promise to “cure cancer” that he did as Obama’s VP) are all the American people will get. If you want to watch the speeches, be forewarned that of course Joe reliably mentions his son, Beau. As O’Keefe called them, these are not signs of someone governing, but photo-ops. And I’ll add what he can’t or won’t say: It’s a glorified photo-op for a man who, at this point, is only pretending to be president.