NBC’s Kristen Welker Asks Karine Jean-Pierre if Biden ‘Doesn’t Have Enough Juice’ to Help Democrats in Midterms

NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker pressed White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about President Joe Biden‘s endorsement of a congressional incumbent who is on track to lose.

Several weeks ago, the president endorsed Rep. Kurt Schrader for Oregon’s 5th district race. But as of this writing, things are not looking great for Schrader, who trails Jamie McLeod-Skinner by a hefty margin of 60.5% to 39.5%.

At Wednesday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre was asked what Schrader’s loss says about President Biden’s influence as an endorser, and Jean-Pierre replied that McLeod-Skinner also “ran on an agenda of President Biden’s priorities,” reading out various instances of praise for the president by the candidate.

“We think it’s both — both sides were very much supportive of the President,” Jean-Pierre said.

Welker followed up by asking if the likely loss means that Biden “doesn’t have enough juice heading into these critical midterms?”

Jean-Pierre did not agree:

MS. WELKER: Thank you. Karine, just to follow up though, I mean, the question is — this — both of them had similar platforms, to your point.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yep.

MS. WELKER: And yet President Biden endorsed one of them, and that candidate is on track to lose. So are there concerns within the President — and I know you can’t speak to politics of this — is the President concerned —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Not at all.

MS. WELKER: — that he doesn’t have enough juice heading into these critical midterms?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, not at all. Because, again, both candidates were running on a platform that supported, embraced the President’s pla- — the President’s agenda.

Schrader infamously referred to the prospect of impeaching then-President Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as a “lynching” in a closed-door meeting with Democrats.

Schrader quickly released a public apology on Twitter:

I recognize the horrible historical context of these words and have started to reach out to my colleagues personally to express that I understand the harm caused. I will work hard to rebuild trust and again, I humbly apologize.

— Rep. Kurt Schrader (@RepSchrader) January 8, 2021

Watch above via The White House and Reuters.