White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was not eager to answer questions in her first briefing following John Durham's bombshell report on the Russia "collusion" hoax — and just hours after a whistleblower notified Congress that the "entire investigative team" probing Hunter Biden's taxes for the IRS had been removed after a request from the DOJ — instead turning the briefing over to the National Security Council's John Kirby to kick off Tuesday's back-and-forth with reporters.
Through more than 15 minutes of questions for Kirby, not a single member of the White House press corps who was called on asked the White House about Biden's reaction to the Durham report — despite the fact that Kirby works on the NSC alongside National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan who was named in the report for his role advancing the hoax that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election.
15 minutes into the White House press briefing, Karine Jean-Pierre says "we're running out of time." pic.twitter.com/VvCLXKMXTC
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 16, 2023
After rushing through Kirby's time behind the White House seal in the briefing room, Karine Jean-Pierre finally took a handful of questions. Still, no one asked about the Durham report or the whistleblower allegations that the DOJ asked the IRS to axe its team investigating Hunter Biden's alleged tax fraud.
No one, that is, until Real Clear Politics' Philip Wegmann was called on for the final question. Still, Karine Jean-Pierre stuck with her favorite answer: no answer.
"Again, that is with the Department of Justice — that's not something that I'm going to speak from the podium," Jean-Pierre said.
KJP is FINALLY asked about the Durham report in the LAST QUESTION of the White House press briefing — and she completely refuses to comment. pic.twitter.com/SAz8rbSXoI
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 16, 2023
Using the line she's leaned upon heavily to avoid answering for myriad developments that paint President Biden and his administration in a negative light, she again refused to comment on the bombshells in Durham's "sobering" report documenting the disparate treatment of Donald Trump and his campaign.
Apparently, President Biden's role as head of the executive branch precludes him from taking any findings from reports such as Durham's and using them to ensure the executive branch isn't running amok, as Durham found the FBI did in its handling of allegations of foreign interference in presidential campaigns.
Also as usual, she quickly ended the briefing and hustled out of the briefing room. Likely, she and the White House were hoping to avoid giving any more oxygen to the devastating news even CNN had to admit was devastating for the FBI and exonerated Trump, instead rushing to get Biden out of the country and to Japan for a G7 meeting to try and change the narrative.
Given the nearly unanimous ignorance of the Durham report demonstrated by all but one reporter called on by Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday, it seems the plan rested on the assumption that the media which parroted the official FBI and DOJ line throughout the Russia collusion narrative remain content to avoid any self-reflection about why it's problematic to uncritically report what their government says.
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