{"id":16064,"date":"2024-08-06T04:07:07","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T04:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/?p=16064"},"modified":"2024-08-06T04:07:31","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T04:07:31","slug":"white-house-comms-shops-credibility-questioned-after-biden-bows-out-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/06\/white-house-comms-shops-credibility-questioned-after-biden-bows-out-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"White House comms shop’s credibility questioned after Biden bows out: ‘Scandal’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Trump campaign reacts to Biden dropping out: ‘Deeply concerning time’<\/a><\/h4>\n

Trump 2024 national press secretary Karoline Leavitt joined ‘FOX & Friends First’ to discuss why Biden’s decision has prompted U.S. politics to enter ‘unchartered territory’ and why many critics are calling on him to step down immediately.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The White House communication team\u2019s credibility surrounding knowledge of President Biden’s political future is in the national spotlight after telling the public for weeks that Biden would not drop out<\/a> of the 2024 race while simultaneously battling questions from the press about mounting concerns over his health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“All you can do is shake your head.\u00a0 No one at the White House has any credibility when it comes to Joe Biden\u2019s health. From Vice President Harris to the White House physician to everyone in the press office, they covered up the president\u2019s frailties. They hid the truth. It\u2019s a scandal,” former George W. Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked to respond, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, “You mean the same Ari Fleischer who told the American people over 100 lies while making the case for the Iraq War? That Ari Fleischer?”<\/p>\n

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Voters and social media commenters across the nation have sounded off in recent days that the communications team was “out of the loop” as concerns mounted surrounding Biden’s health and subsequent claims that he would exit the 2024 presidential race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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When Biden did announce his departure from the race, only a handful of White House and campaign officials \u2014 such as Vice President Kamala Harris, chief of staff Jeff Zients and campaign chair Jen O\u2019Malley Dillon \u2014 were made aware ahead of the letter, while some senior officials learned of the decision in a Zoom call, and most others through Biden’s public announcement on X, media outlets reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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BIDEN WON’T PARDON HUNTER, WHITE HOUSE REAFFIRMS, BUT CRITICS AREN’T SO SURE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily news briefing in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 17, 2022.<\/span> (Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The White House communications shop, which is led by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, had for weeks shut down claims Biden would drop out, while describing Biden’s health as above board and no reason for concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“Absolutely not,” Jean-Pierre declared in a press briefing on July 3 when asked if Biden had any plans to exit the 2024 race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jean-Pierre’s messaging had been backed up by Bates, who frequently issued statements to the media that Biden was in the race to win while brushing off questions about the president’s health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“The president told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100-days agenda to help working families,” Bates said last week in a comment to The New York Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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WHITE HOUSE, FAMILY OFFER CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS IF BIDEN’S HEALTH INFLUENCED DECISION TO DROP OUT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“That is not happening, period,” Bates\u00a0said Friday when asked if members of the Biden family were discussing the president\u2019s exit plan. “The individuals making those claims are not speaking for his family or his team \u2014 and they will be proven wrong. Keep the faith.”<\/p>\n

Soon after the June 27 CNN debate, worried party leaders mounted a pressure campaign on Biden to exit the race<\/a>, as dozens of elected Democrats commended the president for his service in the White House, but called on him to pass the torch to another candidate better suited to take on former President Trump. Media reports cited sources who described top Democrats such as former President Barack Obama, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as working in the background on efforts encouraging Biden to drop out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Although the media reports mounted that Democratic leaders were working to galvanize the party without Biden ahead of the Democratic National Convention, the White House communications team continued brushing off the reports as hogwash.<\/p>\n

TRUMP CALLS FOR NEXT PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE TO BE HELD ON FOX NEWS<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Deputy press secretary Andrew Bates complained about journalists questioning Biden’s mental acuity after Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report called out the president’s “poor memory.”<\/span> (Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Bates, for example, went on a social media campaign shooting down media reports that Biden\u2019s exit from the race was imminent. Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre continued touting the president\u2019s record in office on her X account, including that Biden “will continue to defend reproductive freedom” and that he had “been hitting the road and meeting directly with the American people” in the days following the debate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Despite the full-throated denial that there were even discussions that the president should bow out, Biden ultimately stepped aside in a tweet on Sunday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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WHAT COMES NEXT FOR DEMOCRATS AFTER BIDEN’S CAMPAIGN SUSPENSION?<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election<\/u><\/a>, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in his letter posted to X on Sunday afternoon announcing his departure from the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Media reports shortly following the announcement indicated White House staffers and members of the campaign were shocked by the news, learning of the decision via the X post and through a Zoom call on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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President Biden arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Tuesday after spending nearly a week in Delaware recovering from COVID.<\/span> (Saul Loeb\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Biden had been self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after a COVID-19 diagnosis<\/a> last week. He returned to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday and will address the nation in more depth regarding his exit from the race on Wednesday evening from the Oval Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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GOP CONGRESSMAN CALLS ON HARRIS TO ‘IMMEDIATELY’ INVOKE 25TH AMENDMENT OVER BIDEN’S ‘DECLINING HEALTH’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Following his exit from the race, social media commenters sounded off that key White House communications team<\/a> staffers were “out of the loop” on Biden\u2019s plans to leave the race or mocked staffers such as Bates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The calls for Biden to drop out of the race were born out of his poor debate performance last month against Trump, where he stumbled over his words, lost his train of thought and appeared more subdued than his typical public demeanor. The June 27 debate opened the floodgates to traditional allies and legacy media outlets to call on him to drop out, though conservatives and critics had for years said Biden\u2019s mental fitness was concerning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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As questions surrounding the president\u2019s health mounted, the White House communications team juggled an onslaught of questions regarding whether the president was suffering from an illness such as Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The media\u2019s interactions with Jean-Pierre and the communications team became more heated, as reporters pressed the spokeswoman for answers on the president\u2019s health, and called into question the team\u2019s credibility.<\/p>\n

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Jean-Pierre was pressed by the media during a fiery exchange earlier this month to speak to whether a Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/a> expert\u2019s eight visits to the White House were related specifically to Biden\u2019s health. Jean-Pierre, instead, refused to confirm the doctor by name. She did confirm a neurologist had examined Biden three times for his three yearly physicals since taking office.<\/p>\n

GOP SENATOR DEMANDS CABINET INVOKE 25TH AMENDMENT AGAINST BIDEN AFTER SUSPENDING HIS RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN<\/u><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre fields questions on the NATO summit and the president’s health during the daily briefing in Washington, D.C., on July 8.<\/span> (Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u200b\u200b”They\u2019re in the White House visitor logs. It\u2019s public. I looked it up before I came out here. It is right there for anyone to see,” CBS News reporter Ed O\u2019Keefe said during a presser early this month when questioning the press secretary about Dr. Kevin Cannard being listed eight times on White House visitor logs.\u00a0<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

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“I cannot from here confirm any of that because we have to keep their privacy. I think they would appreciate that, too,” Jean-Pierre said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The patient or the doctor?” O\u2019Keefe asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“We have to keep their privacy,” Jean-Pierre replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TRUMP SAYS BIDEN ‘IS NOT FIT TO SERVE’: ‘WHO IS GOING TO BE RUNNING THE COUNTRY FOR THE NEXT 5 MONTHS?’<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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“It is public,” NBC News correspondent Kelly O\u2019Donnell jumped in to say, while O\u2019Keefe added, “You\u2019re going to allow this to fester longer, Karine, unless the White House just answers the question.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

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President Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 15, 2023.<\/span> (Chris Kleponis\/CNP\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Jean-Pierre was grilled yet again in another press conference about Cannard\u2019s visits, where she erroneously said one of the meetings this year was not related to Biden\u2019s health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Can you say whether that one meeting [between Cannard and O\u2019Connor] was related to care for the president himself?” the Associated Press asked.<\/p>\n

“I can say that it was not,” Jean-Pierre responded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The press secretary backtracked later that day, saying Cannard\u2019s Jan. 17 meeting at the White House was in fact related to Biden\u2019s health, specifically to the president\u2019s yearly physical.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Reporters also called on the White House to allow Biden’s White House physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, to speak to them directly about the president’s health. The administration, however, argued that his written updates on Biden’s health and reports on his check-ups were sufficiently transparent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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President Biden walks along the Colonnade at the White House in Washington, D.C., with his physician, Kevin O’Connor, on Aug. 28, 2023.<\/span> (Manuel Balce Ceneta\/AP)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“The thorough summaries Dr. O\u2019Connor puts online for the public are far more extensive than the presidential medical documentation released during the previous administration,” Bates told Fox News Digital earlier this month when asked if O’Connor would speak directly to the media. “In fact, the American people heard from Dr. O\u2019Connor through his daily written reports on President Biden\u2019s COVID case for over two weeks straight \u2014 a condition he had the honesty to disclose right away, unlike Trump\u2019s physicians in office.”<\/p>\n

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O\u2019Connor has released repeated statements and updates on the president\u2019s health<\/u><\/a> since Biden took office, including when he was diagnosed with COVID, as well as updates on Biden\u2019s annual physicals. He has, however, not joined a press briefing to field journalists’ questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“Dr. O\u2019Connor teaches at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Science, completed U.S. Army flight surgeon training, and was among the first American service members in Afghanistan and Iraq. His unique expertise is sought across the medical community, in which he is respected for his candor, attention to detail, and work ethic,” Bates continued.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

WHO IS WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN DR. KEVIN O’CONNOR AND WHAT ARE HIS CLOSE TIES TO THE BIDEN FAMILY?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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The White House has said that Biden does not suffer from a disease such as Parkinson\u2019s or dementia, or other types of degenerative illnesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Jesse Waters, right, speaks with former President Trump, left, and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.<\/span> (Fox News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Following Biden\u2019s exit from the race, members of the GOP are calling on him to resign from the White House<\/a> altogether.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u00a0“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Sunday in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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COMER REVEALS WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN WAS INVOLVED IN BIDEN FAMILY BUSINESS DEALS, DEMANDS HE TESTIFY<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“If the Democrat party has deemed Joe Biden unfit to run for re-election, he’s certainly unfit to control our nuclear codes,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said Sunday. “Biden must step down from office immediately.”<\/p>\n

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Trump\u2019s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, had also called on Biden to resign in the lead-up to his bombshell announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“If Joe Biden ends his reelection<\/a> campaign, how can he justify remaining President?” Vance posted on X hours before the announcement. “Not running for reelection would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as Commander-in-Chief. There is no middle ground.”<\/p>\n

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close Video Trump campaign reacts to Biden dropping out: ‘Deeply concerning time’ Trump 2024 national press secretary Karoline Leavitt joined ‘FOX & Friends First’ to discuss why Biden’s decision has prompted U.S. politics to enter ‘unchartered territory’ and why many critics are calling on him to step down immediately. The White House communication team\u2019s credibility […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16524,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16064\/revisions\/16524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}