A Charlotte-area radio station has accused the Biden White House of lying about the recent interview between the radio station and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre in which KJP, infuriated by the questions about Biden’s age and inflation, hung up on the interviewer. That radio station is 99.3 WBT, with the host Mark Garrison.
As background, the interview came as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris visited Raleigh, North Carolina, for a campaign trip. During the interview, Garrison asked KJP if President Biden has dementia, a question that set her off, and then followed it up with a question about grocery prices. After answering the grocery price question, she hung up, ending the interview with a dramatic dial tone.
Then, after the dramatic interview, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates spoke to the Daily Beast and claimed that KJP had back-to-back interviews planned and hung up to stay within time constraints imposed by her interview schedule. Further, Bates added that the radio station had added in the dial tone, presumably for dramatic effect.
According to the Daily Beast, Bates said, “As she often does when the President travels, Karine had multiple back-to-back interviews with radio stations who were each offered seven minutes. Once the agreed-upon time was over, she called into the next interview so everyone could get their full time. This particular station chose not to air the full interview and instead artificially attached a sound effect that our phones do not make when calls end.”
Garrison, refuting the allegation that KJP had a strict schedule to stick to and hung up for that reason, told the Daily Beast, “There was no specific time limit of 7 minutes. We had been told the day before they we could talk for 5-10 minutes. After the third question, she hung up.”
Further, Garrison told the Daily Caller that the allegation the dial tone was added in is “nonsense.” He said, “The White House assertion that we added a sound effect is nonsense. When she hung up, the phone noise was purely from their end.” The Daily Caller reports that Mr. Bates, when asked about the situation, referred the outlet to his statement to the Daily Beast.
Listen to the audio at issue here:
The American Tribune, reporting on the conversation between KJP and Garrison after audio of the incident emerged, reported:
Garrison, asking her about the president’s brain, said, “When I told a number of people that I was talking to you today, it was interesting, though, they all said, ‘would you please just ask her, does the president have dementia?’ So before I move on from that, does he?” KJP, angrily responding, fired back, “That Mark, Mark, I can’t even believe you’re asking me this question. That is a credibly offensive question to ask.”
Garrison didn’t let it go. He gently pressed, saying, “But, you know people ask it.” KJP got even angrier in response, accusing Garrison of taking them down a “rabbit hole” by asking if Biden is fit to serve. She said, “Wait. Oh let me — no, no, no, no, no. You — Mark, you, you, you, you, you’re taking us down this rabbit hole. Let me, let me, let me be very clear about this.”
She continued, “For the past several years, the president’s physician has laid out very, in a comprehensive way, the president’s health. This is a president — if you watch him every day, if you really pay attention to his record and what he has done, you will see exactly how focused he’s been on the American people, how historic his actions have been. And so I’m not even going to truly, truly, really, you know, take, take the premise of your question. I think it is incredibly insulting. And, and so we can, you know, we can move on to the next question.”
Garrison then asked about inflation and the high prices of groceries, a question to which KJP responded by saying that Biden “gets it,” telling him, “Look, the president understands. He grew up in a middle-class family, working class family in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He gets it. He understands how difficult it is for Americans who are sitting around their kitchen table every month trying to figure out what they’re going to pay for. You have to remember, when the president walked into this administration, there were multiple crises happening. There was COVID, there was, the economy was in a tailspin because of the last administration, because of what the President Trump left us with.”
She then continued to claim that Biden is doing a great job before abruptly hanging up, saying, “Now you’re asking me about gas prices. The president took action on gas prices. Let’s not forget Russia’s invasion on Ukraine skyrocketed prices of gas. And because the president took action, we see we are in a different place than we were a year ago in gas prices. Eggs, milk, seafood products, all the important groceries, those costs have gone down because of what this president has been able to do. And, and with that, thank you so much, Mark. Have an amazing, amazing day.” Garrison, shocked that she hung up so abruptly, said, “Wow! Wow!”
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