Jake Tapper Confronts Biden Economic Advisor on Inflation: ‘Do You Think You and the President Were Wrong?’

CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed National Economic Council director Brian Deese Sunday over the impact of inflation on American families.

Tapper brought up comments from both Deese and President Joe Biden talking about inflation in June as a short-term issue.

“Do you think that you and the president were wrong and inflation is not a short-term ‘pop up a little bit and go back down’ issue?” the CNN anchor asked.

“No, I don’t think so, Jake,” Deese responded.

He said the pandemic and economy are interlinked and argued there’s an economic impact of more people “consuming goods at him, watching TV rather than buying a new television, rather than going out to the movies and spending on services.”

We’re seeing these price increases, this inflation globally because of the supply chain challenges associated with covid. That’s why we’re going right at attacking those issues right now as well. In the very immediate term we’re working with ports around the country to get goods moving more quickly through the economy and this infrastructure bill, the bipartisan bill that the president will sign tomorrow is the most significant step that we will have taken in decades to actually invest in the arteries that help move goods more quickly through our economy, more cheaply through our economy, and was designed so we can move out quickly on some areas like our ports to try to start providing some relief.

Tapper brought up criticisms from Larry Summers to ask if Americans are facing higher prices because “the Biden administration over-stimulated the economy with all of this money going into the economy” after the passage of the American Rescue Plan.

Deese pushed back a bit and said the legislation “saved us from an acute economic emergency.”

You can watch above, via CNN.