‘Ridiculous Assumption’: Jean-Pierre Shuts Down Reporter For Asking If There Were Fewer Early Morning Events Because Biden ‘Felt Tired’

There’s a new book about President Joe Biden’s first two years in the White House, and if real life is anything like The West Wing, the president’s staff are all bracing themselves for questions about it. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was probably aware of the book, The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future by Atlantic staff writer Franklin Foer, and the excerpts hitting the press, but may not have expected the question she did get.

During Wednesday’s press briefing, Rob Crilly of the Washington Examiner asked Jean-Pierre about why there haven’t been many presidential events before 10:00 AM. His reasoning was because he read an excerpt from the book on The Guardian that “suggested” that Biden told aides he was “tired.” Here’s the full exchange:

Crilly: The Guardian has excerpts today saying the president has told aides in private that he felt tired, and that explains why there were so few events before 10 AM. So two questions: Is this why we’re seeing brunch lids in recent weeks, today we had a breakfast lid. And has the president admitted to you…

Jean-Pierre: Wait, say that last part?

Crilly: So is that why we had a breakfast lid this morning?

Jean-Pierre: A what?

Crilly: It was a breakfast lid, came to the press for the first time. I think we’ve had some brunch lids in recent weeks as well. So my question is, do you…

Jean-Pierre: You think we had those lids because of this excerpt?

Crilly: The book is suggesting, the president tells aides he’s tired.

Jean-Pierre: But that’s in the excerpt.

Crilly: Yeah. And that’s why there’s been so few public events before 10 AM.

Jean-Pierre: I mean, that’s a ridiculous assumption to make.

Here is the Guardian excerpt in question:

“It was striking that he took so few morning meetings or presided over so few public events before 10am. His public persona reflected physical decline and time’s dulling of mental faculties that no pill or exercise regime can resist.

“In private, he would occasionally admit that he felt tired.”

Foer does not cite a source for Biden’s reported private remarks but his book, according to its publisher, Penguin Random House, is based on “unparalleled access to the tight inner circle of advisers who have surrounded Biden for decades.”

While Biden may be 80 years old and it’s absolutely fair to raise concerns about someone who, should he be re-elected to a second term, will be 86 by the end of said second term, every living person on the planet “occasionally” tells people they’re tired. People who don’t travel the world and run the country and spend hours talking to masses of people on rope lines get tired. Right now I am kinda tired. I also will not show up for a meeting before 10:00 AM, so maybe that’s just Biden performing a public service for people who aren’t morning people.

Watch the video above via C-SPAN.

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