White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced a flurry of questions Wednesday about President Joe Biden‘s verbal flub that torpedoed Vice President Kamala Harris’s outreach efforts to Republicans.
Biden, during a Tuesday virtual campaign event for Harris, referenced the incendiary comments comedian Tony Hinchfliffe made at former President Donald Trump‘s campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
2024 ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS ON THE TRUMP-HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE
“The only garbage I see floating out there is [Trump’s] supporters,” the president said during the event.
Biden later clarified Tuesday night that he was not referring to all Trump supporters as garbage, just Hinchcliffe based on his failed joke about Puerto Rico.
The White House’s press briefing Wednesday opened with Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jared Bernstein, but reporters immediately pressed Jean-Pierre about Biden’s gaffe when she began fielding questions.
“Just to clarify, he was not calling Trump supporters garbage, which is why he wanted to make sure that he put out a statement that clarified what he meant and what he was trying to say,” the press secretary answered.
Jean-Pierre continued to criticize Hinchcliffe and his “demonization of Latinos,” telling reporters his jokes “don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
Reporters repeatedly pressed Jean-Pierre over Biden’s mistake, however, asking if he regretted the comments or if the president had been reading from a script of prepared remarks.
Still, the press secretary declined to “get into specifics” and repeatedly reiterated that Biden himself clarified the comment “to make sure that his words were not taken out of context.”
Jean-Pierre declined to say whether Biden apologized to Harris for stepping on her campaign’s message just as she made a closing argument speech Tuesday night on the Ellipse that Republicans should trust her with their votes.
“I said this already, and I’ll say it again: from day one, this president has always said that he would be a president for all Americans,” she stated.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
You can watch Wednesday’s briefing in full below.