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White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre corrected CNN anchor Phil Mattingly when he falsely claimed President Joe Biden didn’t speak publicly about the Maui wildfire disaster until Tuesday.
Despite an extensive federal response, constant updates to the White House press about the president’s personal contacts with officials in the state, a prompt disaster declaration, and several public statements by the president, critics of the president have seized on the tragedy as an opportunity to criticize Biden, who spent the weekend at his home in Delaware.
On Wednesday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Mattingly gave voice to the criticism by asking why President Biden had not spoken publicly about the wildfires until his speech in Wisconsin Tuesday — which Jean-Pierre quickly corrected:
PHIL MATTINGLY: I’ve heard from a lot of people inside the White House, the focus on disaster relief. That’s one of the primary issues the president puts a lot of pressure on his team to deliver on. It’s a critical component of what the federal government can do, which is why I want to ask you this question– And you guys will probably think that it’s minor and we’re making too much of it.
But the idea of not saying anything until yesterday publicly. Why?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I would disagree with that, Phil. The president was, when I was with him in Utah and he was out there to talk about the PACT Act, as, you know, incredibly historic,...
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