Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Walks Back His ‘Pandemic Is Over’ Claims: ‘He’s Been Very Consistent About That’ (Video)
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre joined the “Morning Joe” team Wednesday to, among other things, answer to President Joe Biden’s “60 Minutes” interview from Sunday. Walking back the president’s claim that the COVID-19 pandemic is “over,” she conceded to Mika Brzezinski and others that “it is now more manageable” and “he’s been very consistent about that.”
While Biden’s statement has caused a stir on Capitol Hill and reportedly caught much of his advisory team by surprise, Jean-Pierre argued that there was reason to Biden’s “the pandemic is over” assertion.
“Just to step back for a second, what we saw during that interview, that ’60 Minutes’ interview when he made those comments: He was walking through the Detroit Car Show, the halls of the Detroit Car Show, and he was looking around,” the press secretary began. “We have to remember the last time that they had held that event was three years ago…. So we are in a different time. He’s been very consistent about that.”
Jean-Pierre went on to credit Biden and his administration for bringing the U.S to a different time where we can have in-person car shows, we can have our children go to school, and life looks a little more normal.
“The reason why is we are now prepared. We are now ready,” she said. “We know how to deal with this pandemic. It is now more manageable. It is not as disruptive as it’s been in the prior years. And so, and it is because of what this president has done on Day 1. If you think about where we were when he walked in, 3,000 people were dying a day, that has come down 90%. We think about how schools were closed; now schools are open. Think about businesses were closed, now businesses are open. And it is because of the work that this administration has done.”
The press secretary then shifted attention to Biden’s full statement about the state of COVID-19, where he said, “We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it, but the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape.”
Jean-Pierre clarified: “What he has been very consistent about is that we have to continue to have a foot on this so we have the funding, so that we are ahead of this, of any other, you know, as we look at future vaccines and future treatments, we need to make sure that we are ready for that.”
The widely publicized statements from the president have been criticized by medical professionals all the way up to leading infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, who said at an event on Monday that “we are not where we need to be if we’re going to be able to, quote, ‘live with the virus,’ because we know we’re not going to eradicate it.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on average, more than 2,500 Americans are still dying of COVID-19 each week.
Watch Jean-Pierre’s full “Morning Joe” interview in the video above.
Also Read:
NewsNation to Broadcast Texas Governor, Pennsylvania and Georgia Senate Debates
