White House Pleads with Reporters to Avoid ‘Confrontation’ over Biden’s Possession of Classified Documents
The White House on Wednesday tried to ward off contention with reporters about documents found in President Joe Biden’s private office from when he was vice president.
“Ed, we don’t need to have this. We work very well together. We don’t need to have this kind of confrontation,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during the daily briefing on Wednesday when reporter Ed O’Keefe pressed her for details on the news.
Jean-Pierre had nothing new to share with the press on any further details of the classified documents found in the president’s old office.
The building that housed office space of President Joe Biden’s former institute, the Penn Biden Center, is seen at the corner of Constitution and Louisiana Avenue NW, in Washington, Tuesday, January 10, 2023. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
“It is literally under review right now. As I am talking to you it is under review, so I am not going to get beyond the process. I am not going to get beyond what the president said,” she replied.
Biden said Tuesday he was “surprised” about the existence of classified documents in his private office for his University of Pennsylvania think tank in Washington, DC, and did not know what the documents were about.
“He has said he doesn’t know what is in them,” Jean-Pierre said. “So, there’s no way for me to talk about the documents if he has said he doesn’t know what’s in them.”
Jean-Pierre stonewalled several reporters who asked her when the White House found out about the documents, which were discovered just days before the 2022 midterm elections.
When asked how the American people could trust the president to properly handle the documents, Jean-Pierre replied, “Because his lawyers, his team did the right thing.”
Reporters also reminded Jean-Pierre of Biden’s promise of transparency when it came to his presidency, repeatedly asking why the White House did not reveal when the president found out about the documents and why the White House waited several weeks before revealing the truth about the incident.
Jean-Pierre argued that the White House had already been transparent.
“We released information that was very transparent,” she said, referring to a statement from White House lawyers about the incident.
“I know you all are going to have a lot of questions, I get that and I understand that, but I’m not going to go beyond the process,” she said.
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