One of President Joe Biden’s top advisers was left red-faced when confronted with a straightforward question about the commander-in-chief’s persistently misleading claims during a news conference on Wednesday.
In the president’s latest blunder, which occurred Monday, Biden falsely said he was at Ground Zero on September 12, the day after the attack.
Strategic Communications Coordinator for the National Security Council John Kirby was brought forward by the administration for a press conference when he was asked a blunt question by Jeff Mordock of the Washington Times.
“In recent weeks, the President has lied about being at Ground Zero the day after the September 11 attacks, falsely claimed he saw the Pittsburgh Bridge collapse, claimed his grandfather was in the hospital just days before his birth had died,” Mordock began.
“What’s going on with the president? Does he just believe that things that didn’t happen did happen, or is he just making things up randomly? What’s wrong with the president?’ the reporter asked.
In the president’s latest blunder, which occurred Monday, Biden falsely said he was at Ground Zero on September 12, the day after the attack.
Kirby grinned when the question was asked and then ignored the premise, discussing instead the president’s gratitude that he was able to spend this year’s 9/11 with military service members in Alaska and that Biden was deeply moved when he left Ground Zero a full week visited after the attack. 9/11 attack in 2001.
‘And he wants to ensure that such an attack never happens again. That’s why we have improved our counter-terrorism capabilities across the horizon and continue to hold terrorist networks accountable,” said Kirby, who has been called to testify. in the withdrawal inquiry of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, added.
“And that is why he spent so much time last week defending our national security interests in a vital part of the world, on issues that are not necessarily related to terrorism but are deeply linked to our ability to build peace and to secure prosperity there and beyond. the world,” the retired United States Vice Admiral said.
After Kirby’s rambling and unfocused response, Mordock bluntly asked the question again. “But he said a series of things that didn’t happen, things are easily debunked. Why does he keep doing that?’
“The president was grateful to spend that time with those family members and those troops,” Kirby responded.
Biden made his claim that he witnessed the Pittsburgh bridge collapse during a speech on the economy in August.
“Many of you were with me when I was in Pittsburgh. And besides, Pittsburgh is the “city of bridges.” More bridges in Pittsburgh than any other city in America. I saw that bridge collapse. I got there and saw it collapsing. “When it was over 200 feet above the ground, going over a valley, it collapsed,” Biden said.
National Security Council’s John Kirby stumbled after recently being asked a question about President Joe Biden’s frequent misstatements
“The president was grateful to spend that time with those family members and those troops,” Kirby said when asked about the president’s inaccurate statements.
An overhead shot of the two-lane span, on Forbes Avenue above Fern Hollow Creek in Frick Park – one of Pittsburgh’s largest parks – came down around 7 a.m. in January 2022, involving multiple vehicles
The collapse occurred six hours before Biden arrived on the scene
In reality, the collapse occurred at 7 a.m. on January 28, 2022. Biden visited the site of the collapse that day at 1 p.m. He was supposed to be in the area for a speech on infrastructure.
The other example cited by Mordock comes from the same event in which Biden said, “And by the way, my grandfather Biden, who died very young – he was – died in the hospital where I was born, six days before I got there, I mean before I was born.”
Biden, who told the same story in April 2023, told his grandfather, oil executive Joseph Harry Biden, in a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, in September 1941. Biden was born just over twelve months later and 200 miles away. in Scranton.
His maternal grandfather, Ambrose Finnegan, died in the same hospital where Biden was born, but not until the president was 14 years old in 1957.
The testy exchange between Mordock and Kirby came just before Rep. Nancy Pelosi also gave a classic non-answer to Anderson Cooper during an interview Wednesday night.
Pelosi, 83, was asked if she thought “there’s a chance (Biden) doesn’t keep running.” Pelosi gave a less than definitive answer: “I hope not, I hope not.”
Things got worse when Pelosi was asked if Vice President Kamala Harris was “the best running mate for this president.”
She replied, “He thinks so, and that’s what matters. She is very politically astute. I don’t think people give her enough credit. Her values align with the president’s values. Why would she be vice president if she wasn’t?’
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed to hedge a bit when asked if she thought Vice President Kamala Harris should be on the ticket in 2024, saying only that President Biden “thinks that way and that’s what matters’
“He thinks so, and that’s what matters,” Pelosi said. ‘She is very politically astute. I don’t think people give her enough credit.”
Pushed again by Cooper – Pelosi still dodged the question, but began smiling, giggling and even raising her eyes conspiratorially as she spoke. The CNN star was off camera at the time and it is unclear if he did anything to amuse her.
With a smile, Pelosi said, “She is the vice president of the United States. People say to me: why doesn’t she do this or that? I say because she’s the vice president. That’s the job description. You don’t do that much.’
Ultimately, Pelosi had some praise for Harris’ job performance.
“You know, you are a source of strength, inspiration, intellectual resource and all the rest, and I think she has represented our country very well at home and abroad.”
Pelosi also laughed off a David Ignatius column in the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post that challenged both Harris and her boss, writing, “President Biden should not run again in 2024.”
Ignatius largely praises Biden’s first years as president, claiming the Democrat has “ruled from the center” and done a good job on foreign policy by supporting Ukraine.
However, he says that not only Biden, but also Vice President Kamala Harris, should avoid a run for office in 2024.
‘It’s painful to say that, given my admiration for much of what they have achieved. But if he and Harris campaign together in 2024, I think Biden risks undoing his greatest achievement — stopping Trump.”
He cited disastrous polling for Biden in terms of approval rating and public opinion of his age.
A Wall Street Journal poll on Monday showed similar findings, with 73 percent of voters saying Biden is too old to run for re-election, including two-thirds of Democrats.
Harris dismissed the concerns and said Biden was prepared to serve as president until January 2025.
“Let me first say that our president has been an extraordinary leader who has accomplished things that previous presidents hoped, dreamed and promised they would do but did not,” she said.
“So yes, I see him every day, a significant amount of time we spend together is in the Oval Office where I see his ability to understand problems and weave through complex issues in a way that no one else can, to make smart and important decisions on behalf of the American people have played out,” Harris continued.
“And so I will say to you that ultimately I think the American people want to know that their president is getting results — and that Joe Biden is getting results,” the vice president added.
Harris also responded affirmatively when Megerian asked if she was willing to run for president.
“Yes,” she said.