White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre turned defensive during her briefing on Wednesday, snapping at a question about why the president was heading to his rural retreat at the weekend as the country faces a debt meltdown in just eight days.
She fielded questions as negotiators remain deadlocked on negotiating a debt ceiling deal, and markets plunged amid fears of U.S. default.
Officials forecast that calamity is now only a week away.
‘On the debt ceiling, you used words like catastrophic and devastating today, but the president again is going to Camp David this weekend and then going to Delaware. If the situation is so dire, then why is the president…’ said a reporter before being cut off by the press secretary.
‘I just answered that question,’ she said. ‘Do you have another one? I literally just answered that question.’
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre turned defensive during her briefing on Wednesday, snapping at a question about why the president was heading to his rural retreat at the weekend as the country faced a debt meltdown in just eight days
Biden is due to head out of town on Friday for the presidential retreat of Camp David. He is not due to return to Washington until Sunday evening despite crisis talks
In fact, she had been asked earlier about whether the president would commit to staying in Washington, D.C., until a deal was reached. And she answered by saying he would stay in touch with members of Congress and staff.
‘The president will be wherever he needs to be to secure a reasonable bipartisan deal to prevent the economic catastrophe that Republicans are threatening … this, this manufactured crisis,’ she said.
‘And so that is what he’s going to do. He’ll do that wherever he needs to be.’
Biden cut short a trip to Asia last week, abandoning a visit to Australia, in order to hurry back for crisis talks.
But on Wednesday his public schedule made no mention of debt talks. And he looks set to head out of the city for the weekend, as he has done for most of his presidency, first to Camp David and then to him home just outside Wilmington, Delaware.
Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre blasted Republicans, saying had admitted they were holding the economy hostage.
It came after Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a vocal member of the House Freedom Caucus, told Semafor his colleagues were in agreement and, ‘They don’t feel like we should negotiate with our hostage.’
Jean-Pierre said it was clear this was a manufactured crisis.
Biden abandoned a visit to Australia last week to focus on debt talks, but it seems the 80-year-old cannot shake the habit of getting away from the White House at weekends
‘And don’t take our word for it, just listen to members of the House Freedom Caucus,’ she said. ‘They’ve been very honest about this, and are now … saying the quiet thing out loud, referring to the full faith and credit of the United States as a “hostage.”‘
However, she bungled her furious attack on Republicans leaving reporters in the White House struggling not to giggle when she referred to former Treasury Secretary ‘Steven Munchkin.’
She paused and held up a finger as if to repeat herself before saying again: ‘Munchkin,’ and reading one of his quotations.
In fact, it was Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin who when asked whether it was possible to prioritize spending in order to delay the worst impacts of a debt crisis, said: ‘I think that doesn’t make sense.
Steven Munchkin was not Donald Trump’s treasury secretary. It was Steven Mnuchin
‘The government should honor all of its obligations and the debt limit should be raised.’
And he said it in 2017, not in response to questions about the current crisis.
Negotiators for Biden and House Speaker McCarthy met again at the White House earlier in the day to try to reach a deal to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and ensure the federal government can keep paying its bills.
Time is tight. The Treasury Department has warned the government that it could run out of money as soon as June 1, and any deal would have to be passed by Congress before then.
Despite her harsh words, Jean-Pierre seemed to say that progress was being made.
‘If it keeps going in good faith, we can get to an agreement here,’ she said.
