White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre went through Monday’s entire news briefing without taking a question, a first for her amid criticism about her level of credibility in the job.
Jean-Pierre opened the briefing with a memorable note about unidentified flying objects and aliens, but she then turned things over to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
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Kirby then proceeded to take questions for the entirety of the briefing, with Jean-Pierre only stepping in to call on reporters to ask him questions. She mentioned before ending the briefing that she had to go to the Oval Office.
Jean-Pierre acceded to the position of press secretary, which pays $180,000, last May following the departure of Jen Psaki. Since that time, she has drawn criticism for frequently reading scripted answers to reporters, for giving statements that later turned out to be false, and even for struggling to pronounce words consistently.
Last weekend, for example, Jean-Pierre struggled to explain North American Aerospace Defense Command’s role in shooting down an object over Canada, which she called “Canadia.”
“Because it is part of NORAD. NORAD is part of like a … part of a … it’s a … it’s a … NORAD is what you call … a coalition?” she asked as she struggled to find the right words. Jean-Pierre later added, “Again, we didn’t do it on our own. We did it in a … in a … clearly, in, in, in step with Canadia.”
Jean-Pierre also once referred to Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as “Majority” Taylor Greene and once said that a Supreme Court ruling was unconstitutional.
More often than not since taking office, Jean-Pierre has been joined at briefings by another spokesperson, most often Kirby, which allows them to take up time from her having to respond directly to questions. But Monday was the first time she went an entire briefing without taking a single one.
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The press secretary took especially tough heat in the wake of President Joe Biden’s classified documents scandal, when several reporters began openly questioning her credibility after she made statements that turned out later to be false.
NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect that Jean-Pierre cited having to visit the Oval Office as the reason she ended the briefing without taking questions.
