White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that jet lag was the cause of President Joe Biden’s panicked debate performance, apologizing for not mentioning it earlier.
“I got a lot of questions yesterday about the president’s performance in the debate. He didn’t mention travel, he didn’t mention jet lag, he didn’t mention international travel, so you can understand why people were a little confused when they heard the president explain it for the first time last night,” a reporter told Jean-Pierre, who said he was familiar with the excuse.
“That was my mistake,” Jean-Pierre replied. “It is certainly part of the explanation for what happened. I knew about it. I was aware of it.”
She repeatedly said she was aware of the jet lag but was more focused on Biden’s cold.
“So I talked about it and it definitely had to do with his schedule,” she continued. “With the schedule and the cold… I found out about it yesterday,” she added.
clock:
Reporter: If jet lag really was the cause of Biden’s dismal debate performance, why didn’t you say so yesterday?
Karine Jean-Pierre: “It was my mistake.” pic.twitter.com/xTEVXRrCSA
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 3, 2024
Her clarification came after Biden made a surprise appearance on a conference call with campaign staff on Wednesday to reportedly assure Democrats he was in for the long haul, despite a lackluster debate performance that upset many Democrats.
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Courtesy of CNN Presidential Debate
