WATCH: Biden Commerce Secretary Put Totally on the Run By Jake Tapper, Absurdly Points to France’s Gas Prices as Evidence Biden Plan is Working

Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo was put completely on the run by CNN anchor Jake Tapper Sunday in a tense interview about various economic issues such as high gas prices and the baby formula shortage.

Right from the outset of her State of the Union appearance, Raimondo was put to the test by Tapper.

“You heard [Treasury] Secretary [Janet] Yellen say this week she got it wrong about inflation,” Tapper said. “In July, you told Bloomberg that
inflation would be temporary, about a year ago. As recently as six months ago, you were calling inflation, ‘a short-term problem, not a long-term problem.’ So, you got it wrong, too.”

“Yeah, good morning,” Raimondo replied. “Good to be with you.”

She then addressed Tapper’s question, and pinned many of the American economy’s problems on Vladimir Putin.

“So clearly we are — and Americans are — struggling with inflation,” Raimondo conceded. “But I don’t think anyone predicted Putin’s war in Ukraine, or various other things that have happened that have been unexpected. I still think we will get inflation under control. We just have to stick with it and see it through. You know, I think it’s worth noting that gas prices are up $1.40 a gallon since Putin moved troops into Ukraine. So, the president — and our team —is doing everything we possibly can to get inflation under control. The reality is, the cause of this inflation is the supply chain problems that were caused by Covid which we’re still struggling with. Putin’s war is driving the price of food and gas up. We can’t deny that. We know Americans are strugglig.”

Raimondo tried to tout recent comments from former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers about inflation potentially starting to go down, but Tapper pressed her about a first-guess Summers made a years ago on President Joe Biden’s economic strategy.

“All due respect, Madam Secretary, Larry Summers a year ago, more than a year ago, was saying the Biden administration was putting too much money into the economy, flooding too much money into the economy,” Tapper said. “And he was concerned about inflation. And a Biden administration official said that Larry Summers was wrong. And it turns out he was right.”

Raimondo took umbrage with that premise, and pointed to high gas prices abroad as proof the $1.9 trillion stimulus package Biden signed into law last year is working.

“I don’t really agree with that characterization,” Raimondo said. “The reality is, I was just in Europe a couple of weeks ago. Gas there in France is $10 a gallon. And they didn’t have an American rescue plan like we did. I shudder to think, Jake, what we would be living through right now if we didn’t have the American rescue plan.”

It’s unclear how the stimulus impacted gasoline prices, but the argument that America is succeeding compared to other nations with higher gas prices in disingenuous. What Raimondo failed to note is that gas is always dramatically higher in Europe than it is in the U.S. The website trading economics shows that gas prices in France hovered around $7 in U.S. dollars per gallon in 2018, dipped briefly in 2020, then jumped to roughly $8 a gallon shortly after the start of the pandemic, and jumped up to just shy of $9 after Russia invaded Ukraine. U.S. Energy Department statistics show roughly the same $1 per gallon spike took place in the U.S. following the invasion.

Tapper then brought up inflation and the nation’s baby formula shortage and put Raimondo on the spot.

“We’re talking about two critical issues here that directly affect the American people where they live, where the Biden administration looks like it was caught flat-footed — inflation and baby formula,” Tapper said. “Not to mention the record gas prices, which were hurt by the war in Ukraine, no doubt. But that’s not the only reason why they’re so high. Why does it seem the Biden administration is consistently playing clean-up on these problems that are playing out exactly as many experts forecast they would — instead of heading them off before they become a crisis?”

“Again, that’s one way to look at it,” Raimondo said, before pivoting to try to spin. She added, “Because of the president’s leadership, America is back to work. Wages are increasing, the labor market is strong, people have not been thrown out of their homes. We are not seeing the anemic and very painful economic recovery that we experienced in 2009, ’10, ’11, ’12 and ’13 after the last economic slowdown. Yes, inflation’s a problem. In no way do I want to minimize that. The Fed is independent. They are already taking action. And you’re already starting to see that. But fundamentally, what we have here is a robust economic recovery. And I think that’s in large part due to the president’s leadership.”

Watch above, via CNN.