The White House is being accused by a local radio station in North Carolina of providing false information regarding an interview conducted with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. During the interview, Jean-Pierre appeared to abruptly end the conversation after being questioned about the president’s mental state and the economy.
The station, 99.3 WBT, based in Charlotte, claimed that Jean-Pierre hung up on the host, Mark Garrison, with a dial tone. White House spokesperson Andrew Bates stated that Jean-Pierre had a tight schedule with back-to-back interviews and that the dial tone was added in by the station. However, the station refuted Bates’ statement, asserting that the sound originated from Jean-Pierre’s end.
“The White House assertion that we added a sound effect is nonsense. When she hung up, the phone noise was purely from their end,” Mark Garrison said.
Garrison informed Jean-Pierre that numerous individuals requested him to inquire the press secretary about the president’s health. The press secretary deemed the question as “highly offensive” and swiftly moved on to the next topic. After addressing a question about the economy, Jean-Pierre appeared to abruptly conclude the conversation.
“As she often does when the President travels, Karine had multiple back-to-back interviews with radio stations who were each offered seven minutes. Once the agreed-upon time was over, she called into the next interview so everyone could get their full time,” Bates said in a statement to the Daily Beast following Jean-Pierre’s initial interview. “This particular station chose not to air the full interview and instead artificially attached a sound effect that our phones do not make when calls end.”
Following Jean-Pierre’s request to shift away from a question regarding the president’s mental state, Garrison inquired about Biden’s strategy to secure votes from Americans who now have less “disposable income” compared to before his presidency.
Jean-Pierre acknowledged that the president empathizes with families facing financial difficulties, highlighting his own upbringing in a middle-class family.
“Now you’re asking me about gas prices,” she continued. “The president took actions on gas prices, let’s not forget, Russia’s invasion on Ukraine skyrocketed prices on gas, and because the president took action we are in a different place than we were a year ago on gas prices.”
“Eggs, milk, seafood products, all the important groceries, those prices have gone down because of what this president has been able to do. And with that, thank you so much Mark. Have an amazing, amazing day,” Jean-Pierre concluded, followed by the sound of a dial tone.
