During the same February 9 press briefing in which she bizarrely said that Biden’s being “active” is the reason why he doesn’t need to take a cognitive test to prove his mental health to the American people in the wake of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report, she also got hyper-defensive when asked about making “light of the President’s verbal flubs.”
As background, KJP attempted to explain away Biden’s claim that he had spoken to dead European leaders. She was asked, “And multiple times this week, the President in his public remarks talked about having conversations in 2021 with European leaders who were deceased at that time. So, can you give us an explanation into why the President was referring to those — to those people in those conversations and what exactly happened there?“
Responding, she tried to shift the discussion away from Biden’s gaffes, saying, “So, I know there has been a lot of focus on this. I want to just step back for a second and just kind of think, really, kind of top level of what the President was talking about when he was having — as he tells a story about having these conversations with world leaders, which are obviously important conversations. He was underlying the January 6 events in 2021: what happened; the message that it sent around the globe, around the world to our leaders — to world leaders; how dangerous it is; our democracy — how important democracy was and — or is — continues to be, obviously.”
So, KJP was asked about that. Pressing her on Biden’s health and why she “made light of” Biden’s shockingly bad and quite concerning gaffe, the reporter asked, And, yesterday, when you made light of the President’s verbal flubs, had you been briefed on the special counsel report or —”
KJP snapped, “No” as the reporter finished the question, saying, “— or seen it at all?” KJP insisted, “No, not at all.” The reporter said “Okay,” but KJP didn’t let it go. Pushing back, she snapped, “And what do you mean when I “made light of the President’s verbal flubs”?”
Noting what KJP said seemed to be an attempt to downplay the gravity of Biden’s gaffes, the reporter said, “Well, you made some jokes in response to questions about the President confusing world leaders with deceased world leaders. And —”
That’s when KJP got even more defensive, saying, “Well, I — what I did was I — I tried to state very clearly that — and yes, I did it in a light way, because it does happen to many people. And I actually talked about one of your colleagues that I do it to all the time.”
She added, “And so, look, I — you know, I just want to be very clear: You know, this is a — this is a president that is very much focused on the American people. He is very much focused on making sure what he was elected to do gets done. What he has — the promises that he’s made to communities across the country gets kept. So, I just want to make sure that is made also very clear.”
Watch KJP, immediately after that exchange, defend Biden not taking a cognitive test:
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