Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced a barrage of scrutiny from media members over repeated visits by high-profile Parkinson’s disease specialists to the White House.
Typically, Jean-Pierre puts her own spin on everything, but this time, she could not contextualize the reasons for the disease specialist’s visits.
Instead, she opted to bluntly refuse to disclose any details about the specialist’s visits and denied Joe Biden has Parkinson’s disease.
Throughout the briefing, Jean-Pierre dodged questions from journalists who pressed her for transparency regarding the frequent visits documented in the White House logs from July 2023 through March 2024.
Due to Jean-Pierre’s refusal to reveal any details regarding the visits, the atmosphere became increasingly tense.
The White House Press Secretary claimed Biden’s physical examinations include Stanard consultations with specialists, including neurologists.
However, her refusal to provide specifics about the specialists’ visits and Biden’s health only served to fuel increasing distrust among the media.
Citing “security reasons,” Jean-Pierre did little to quell the mounting concerns from reporters.
“I am telling you right now that I am not sharing confirming names from here,” Jean-Pierre said.
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“It is a security reason. It doesn’t matter how hard you push me.”
“It doesn’t matter how angry you get with me. I’m not going to confirm a name.”
At one point, Jean-Pierre became visibly overwhelmed by the questioning and appeared to be on the verge of tears,
“To say that I’m holding information or allude to anything else is not unfair,” she said.
“It’s really, really unfair. I think people who are watching and have been watching this briefing for this past week could say that we are doing our best in this briefing to provide the information that we have.”
“I will admit, I will be the first one to admit, sometimes I get it wrong.” She finished.
“But I do take offense to what was just happening at the beginning of this briefing. But I do take offense to what was just happening at the beginning of this briefing. It’s not okay.”
According to visitor logs, Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson’s disease specialist from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, made eight trips to the White House over the last eight months, per The New York Times.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates responded to questions about the visit, saying, “A wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat the thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds.”
However, it remains unclear whether Dr. Cannard’s visits to the White House were to consult about the president specifically or for other unrelated reasons.
The news comes amid growing speculation about Biden’s health, and specifically Parkinson’s disease, following his disastrous debate performance last week.
