Karine Jean-Pierre walked out of the White House press briefing during a fiery exchange with Fox News Peter Doocy over funding for Hurricane Helene victims and misinformation about the governments response.
The duo have butted heads in previous press briefings but Mondays showdown was their most intense to date. The two rapidly exchanged back and forths, talking over each other at various points and arguing about what the other said.
It ended when Jean-Pierre slammed her briefing binder shut and left the podium, ending the briefing after 49 minutes of questions. She typically briefs for about an hour.
The exchange started out cordial enough. Doocy congratulated Jean-Pierre on her promotion to senior adviser to President Joe Biden and then moved on to his questions.
The whole premise of your question is misinformation sir, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre snapped at Fox News Peter Doocy
Doocy asked her about hurricane funding and if President Biden would bring back Congress in order for them to allocate more money to victims.
President Biden is fond of saying, show me your budget, and I will tell you what you value. If hes got money for people in Lebanon right now, without Congress having to come back, what does it say about his values? Theres not enough money right now in North Carolina. Thats not misinformation, Doocy said.
Jean-Pierre had spent much of her briefing pushing back against false information and conspiracy theories on the internet surrounding hurricane relief.
There have been false claims that relief money was only going to Democrats and conspiracy theories the government was going to engage in a land grab.
The misinformation has led to chaos and confusion in states like Georgia and North Carolina, where power and cell phone service is limited.
She had called those people bad-faith actors and said it was wrong, dangerous and must stop immediately.
So when Doocy asked her if his question was misinformation, the White House press secretary snapped: The whole premise of your question is misinformation sir.
Excuse me, Doocy replied.
Jean-Pierre then outlined the $200 million the government sent to the impacted area and other funding.
Doocy repeated his question about Biden and said it is not misinformation. Would you agree?
No, Jean-Pierre said. Not the way youre asking me. The question is misinformation.
Doocy pushed back: You cant call a question you dont like misinformation.
Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy questioning Karine Jean-Pierre in Mondays White House press briefing
Jean-Pierre noted she had said more funding would be needed, especially after Hurricane Milton makes landfall later this week in Florida.
Thats exactly what I just asked about, Doocy said.
But Jean-Pierre got in the final word and then walked out.
What youre asking me is why Congress needs to come back and do their job. Thats what youre asking me. Congress needs to come back and do their job and provide extra assistance, extra funding to Disaster Relief Fund. Thats what Congress needs to do, and were going to continue to urge that. You may not want that, but thats okay. Thats what this President wants, and thats what the Vice President wants, she said.
With that she slammed shut her briefing binder and said: Thanks, everybody.
She left the briefing room.