CBS News Reporter Jabs White House By Asking For ‘Any Reflections’ On Pence’s Quick ‘Public Disclosures’ on Docs

Steve Portnoy, CBS News correspondent covering the White House, took a veiled shot at the Biden White House on Tuesday in asking Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre if she or the communications staff had “any reflections” on Vice President Mike Pence’s “public disclosure” of classified documents versus how the White House handled alerting the public regarding Biden’s document retention.

“It being the White House’s position for the last several weeks that the president’s legal team did the right thing. Is it the initial observation of the White House that Pence’s legal team did the right thing?” Portnoy asked.

“That’s not for me to comment on from here. I would refer you to the Department of Justice,” Jean-Pierre replied.

“One of the things that the Pence team seems to have done in the last week is make public disclosure of the circumstance and advise NARA, but also advised Congress and now the public. Any reflections by, among the communications and press staff here as to how the Pence team handled it versus how you guys handled it?” Portnoy followed up.

“And Steve, I understand your question and I hear it. We’ve answered your question in many different variations. I’m just not I don’t have anything else to share from here. If you have any more specifics or details about this, about the ongoing legal matter, I would refer you to Department of Justice. Anything else? I would refer to the White House Counsel’s office,” Jean-Pierre replied, referring the question, as she did most of the questions on the topic, elsewhere.

Another reporter could be heard shouting, “You knew about it for two months,” as Jean-Pierre was finishing her answer.

Portnoy’s question appeared to be a jab at Biden, whose lawyers found the first set of classified documents before the 2022 midterms. That find was not disclosed to the public until after the election, which has led many critics to imply a kind of cover-up. Additional documents in Biden’s possession have since been found in a slow drip, drip of information, which has fueled the scandal. Biden and his staff have maintained they have followed a process set out for them by the National Archives and Justice Department.

Watch the full clip above

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