Daily Caller | by Brianna Lyman | January 12, 2023
CBS’ Errol Barnett and Lana Zak called out White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday for avoiding giving any answers about the classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president.
Jean-Pierre has consistently fielded questions from reporters, including CBS’ Ed O’Keefe, who asked Wednesday why the information was just made public. Jean-Pierre told O’Keefe she would not “go beyond what the president laid out.” (RELATED: ‘You Sat On This Information For More Than 2 Months’: Newsmax Reporter Grills Karine Jean-Pierre Over Biden Docs)
“I’m not going to go beyond what my White House counsel colleagues have stated,” she said. Jean-Pierre bucked similar questions during Thursday’s briefing.
Barnett and Zak called out Jean-Pierre for her answers.
“For a second straight day now, the White House struggling to answer any questions related to classified documents discovered at locations associated with President Biden, citing Karine Jean-Pierre there, the press secretary, simply reading a statement, where she says the president was surprised by the discovery, takes this matter very seriously, the documents were inadvertently misplaced and he doesn’t know what’s in them. But Lana, we’ve been listening here,” Barnett continued. “She has not answered a single question, outside of a prewritten statement by the president’s lawyers.”
“Exactly,” Zak said. “And continuing then to say the same thing again and again. Even in response to very simple questions about the timeline, about the specific location, clarifying questions, and continuing to use the word ‘transparent’ and saying that they did things in a transparent manner.”
“You heard our own, CBS’ Ed O’Keefe really trying to pin her down on what she means by transparency when she’s saying that she has been transparent, does that mean legal transparency, governmental transparency as required by law, or public transparency?”
Fox News’ Peter Doocy also pressed Jean-Pierre on lack of transparency, with Jean-Pierre saying the White House had “nothing” to hide.
Biden’s personal attorneys allegedly discovered several classified documents while packing files and subsequently notified the National Archives and Record Administration, CNN reported Tuesday, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The documents were discovered on Nov. 2 at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C.
Several of the classified documents allegedly contained material related to the Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom. Biden was reportedly unaware the documents had been discovered and was notified via the White House counsel’s office. A second set of documents were then discovered at his Wilmington, Delaware, home. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday a special counsel would be appointed to investigate the documents.
