‘You Know That’: Kirby Battles Fox’s MacCallum Over Noontime White House Lid
White House spokesman John Kirby and Fox News host Martha MacCallum argued over the White House calling a noontime lid on Monday as Israel conducted military strikes inside Gaza after Hamas carried out deadly terrorist attacks over the weekend.
Hamas took Israeli security forces by surprise with a series of coordinated killings and kidnappings that resulted in at least 900 dead Israelis and dozens kidnapped. In response, Israel has initiated a “siege” of Gaza, where 2.3 million people live.
During Monday’s edition of The Story on Fox News, MacCallum asked Kirby about the fact that the White House called a lid just before noon, meaning President Joe Biden will have no public events for the rest of the day:
MACCALLUM: The White House called a lid on the president at 11:46 a.m. this morning. Given what is going on, John, why would that be?
KIRBY: Well, a lid means that he doesn’t have any more public-facing events. That doesn’t mean that the president’s not working, and he absolutely is working. He had another update this morning with his national security team. He stayed updated throughout the day. He’s gonna be talking to foreign leaders later this afternoon. There’ll be a public component in terms of, at least making it clear what that conversation was like and what the details of it were. We’ll put that out and make sure people know what that conversation was like –
MACCALLUM: Is the president at the White House right now, John?
KIRBY: He is, indeed. Yes.
MACCALLUM: Alright, why put a lid on today? You know, there might be multiple opportunities when he might want to come out and address some of what’s going on given this urgent situation. You’ve got American hostages in Israel and nine Americans dead. So, doesn’t that seem like a little odd to do on a Monday?
KIRBY: A lid again, is an administrative decision about whether or not there’s a scheduled public event after the fact. But obviously, lids can be lifted. Lids can be changed. You know that. You’ve covered the White House. I don’t have any public events to speak to today. I can assure you and I can assure the American people that the president is staying up to date, has been throughout the extent of this crisis and will continue to do so going forward. And again, part of his plan this afternoon is to get on the phone with foreign leaders and talk to them about what’s going on in Israel.
Watch above via Fox News.
