White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had an explosive exchange with CBS reporter Ed O’Keefe as the Biden administration faces intense scrutiny over recent revelations of a Parkinson’s disease specialist’s frequent White House visits, raising more questions about President Biden’s mental health.
a series of reports, First reported by the New York Post, The study revealed that Dr. Kevin Kennard, a neurologist at Walter Reed Military Medical Center who specializes in Parkinson’s disease, met with Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, several times last year.
During Monday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre did not confirm Kennard’s visit to the White House to reporters, citing security and privacy concerns, even though Kennard’s name was listed in the public visitor log.
Jean-Pierre dodged questions from Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller about whether Canard’s trips were related to Biden’s health, saying, “I’m not going to share people’s (doctors’) names,” after which O’Keefe lost his patience.
Parkinson’s disease specialist meets with President Biden’s physician at the White House
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced a barrage of questions about President Biden’s mental health at Monday’s press briefing. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
“That’s a very basic, straightforward question,” O’Keefe chimed in, drawing her attention. “You should be able to answer it by now.”
“No, no, no, no, no,” Jean-Pierre immediately pushed back. “Ed, please. Here’s a little respect. Please.”
“So every year during the president’s physical exam, he meets with a neurologist. That happened three times, right? So I’m telling you that during this presidency he has met with a neurologist three times. That’s what I’m saying,” Jean-Pierre continued. “I’m telling you he has met with them three times. That’s what I’m sharing with you, right? So every time he has a physical exam, he has to meet with a neurologist. So that’s the answer to that question.”
“No, it hasn’t,” O’Keefe said again. “Has Dr. Kevin Kennard come to the White House specifically about the president’s condition?”
“Ed, I also told you that for security reasons we cannot share names. We cannot share names,” he replied, “We cannot share the names of our specialists, from our dermatologist to our neurologist. We cannot share names. There are security reasons—”
“They’re on the visitors’ list. It’s public,” O’Keefe said, pushing back. “I saw it before I came here. It’s right there for anyone to see.”
“Ed, I’m listening to you,” Jean-Pierre told the reporter. “I can’t confirm it from here, because we have to maintain their confidentiality. I think they would appreciate it too.”
Jean-Pierre got into a heated exchange with CBS News correspondent Ed O’Keefe after she repeatedly dodged questions about the Parkinson’s disease specialist’s multiple visits to the White House. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
After O’Keefe received assistance from NBC correspondent Kelly O’Donnell, who also insisted that the Canard’s visitor logs are public, Jean-Pierre put a stop to the noise.
“There’s no reason to have this aggressive back-and-forth with me,” Jean-Pierre scolded reporters.
“Well, we’re here to be upset about the fact that “The information that has been provided about him has been shared with the press,” a frustrated O’Keefe said.
“What are you angry about?” Jean-Pierre replied.
“That’s everything he just asked,” O’Keefe said, referring to Miller, who had earlier questioned the press secretary’s recent “clarification” about whether Biden visited a doctor after last month’s debate.
After O’Keefe disputed the claim that she had to correct herself, Jean-Pierre reiterated, “I’m telling you right now I’m not verifying names from here. It’s a security reason. I’m not going to do that, Ed. It doesn’t matter how much you push me, it doesn’t matter how angry you are with me. I’m not going to verify any names. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the log or not. I’m not going to do that from here. It’s not something I’m going to do.”
“What I can share with you is that the president has met with a neurologist three times for his physicals, three times, and it’s in the reporting that we share a comprehensive reporting,” she said. “In fact, it’s more than the last person shared. And it’s consistent with what George W. Bush did. It’s consistent with what Obama did. And so it’s extensive. It’s out there. I just read a quote from it, but I’m not going to name anybody or confirm anybody. I’m not going to… no matter how hard you push me, no matter how angry you get at me from here. I’m not going to do that. It’s inappropriate. It’s not acceptable. So I’m not going to do that.”
Reports of President Biden’s mental decline have surfaced ever since his poor performance in last month’s presidential debate. (Getty Images)
Several journalists He asked Jean-Pierre why he did not reveal the doctor’s name, then also spoke about his heated argument with the CBS reporter.
“I just want to step back for a moment because I’m angry at what Ed said,” Jean-Pierre said. “You know, I’m here every day for the press briefing, and we do our best to give you the information we have at that time. That’s what we do. And we understand that freedom of the press, we respect freedom of the press. You heard me talk about that last week. I appreciate the exchanges that we all have. I try to respect you and I hope you respect me. And we really do everything we can—my team does everything we can to make sure that we get your questions answered. That’s what we do.”
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“And sometimes we disagree. Sometimes we don’t agree. But you know that’s what democracy is all about. That’s what’s important is that there is a healthy conversation. So to say that I am hiding information or pointing to something else, (is not fair). It’s really very unfair,” she added.
She said, “I think people who have been watching this briefing over the last week can tell we’re doing our best to give the information that we have in this briefing. And I admit, I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes I’m wrong. At least I admit that. At least I admit that. And sometimes I don’t have the information. And I always, always admit that. But I’m angry about what happened at the beginning of this briefing. It’s not right.”
When O’Donnell pointed out that the press was trying to get clarity on why the doctor’s name would not be released, Jean-Pierre said, “Yes. But personal attacks are not okay.”
