Reporter Asks if Biden Thinks Trump Is ‘Fit For Office’ During Air Force One Briefing
During a briefing on Air Force One, a reporter asked whether President Joe Biden believes that former President Donald Trump is “fit for office.”
Principal White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gaggled with reporters aboard the presidential plane Friday, and was asked about the president’s views on Trump.
The subject came up in the context of the blistering criticism that Biden leveled at Trump during this week’s Jan. 6 speech, and KJP pointed out that Biden has been sounding those same notes since he began his run for president:
Q Karine, on his speech yesterday, could I follow up?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Sure.
Q Yeah, so the President repeatedly and, of course, you know, very eloquently described what he says is a threat to democracy from the previous president — you know, literally accusing him of subverting democracy to this very day. Does President Biden think that Donald Trump is fit for office? Does he think he should be in a place where he can just run again for president, for example? What’s his feeling on that? He might end up facing him.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, I’m not here to predict what the previous president is going to do. That is not what we’re here to do. That is — you know, that’s not — that’s not my place here.
But, you know, Jen talked about this a little bit yesterday. Look, the President has never shied away from directly addressing the threat his predecessor poses to our democracy and the basic values our country was founded on.
So, in fact, he launched his campaign on that very idea: the President posed and — that the former President posed a unique threat to the soul of our country when the Pre- — when President Biden announced his presidency back in 2019. And he made that point throughout his campaign and over the last year in office.
The President will not back down from holding his predecessor accountable when it is appropriate. But the President also knows that — the importance of delivering for his agenda. That’s what he wants to focus on is delivering for the American people, like he has been doing.
Listen above via The White House.
