White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has hit back against a pool of reporters during a heated exchange at the White House Tuesday.
White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci was in the midst of discussing the administration’s vaccine efforts when Daily Caller White House correspondent Diana Glebova shouted out a question about investigations into the 2020 coronavirus outbreak. Jean-Pierre quickly intervened, stating Glebova was being “disrespectful.”
“We have a process here. I’m not calling out on people who yell. And you’re being disrespectful to your colleagues. And you’re being disrespectful to our guest,” Jean-Pierre said. “I will not call on you if you yell, and also you’re taking time off the clock because Dr. Fauci has to leave in a couple of minutes.”
Other reporters jumped in and began interrupting Jean-Pierre who said she was “done” answering questions.
Right-wing political commentators took to Twitter to address the situation, one calling Jean-Pierre’s exchange “unprofessional.”
“What a condescending, smug, absolute embarrassment KJP is…”
But others, including some reputable media outlets, reported that Jean-Pierre had to “shut down” reporters who were “shouting questions out of turn.”
“White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shutdown right-leaning reporters who tried shouting questions out of turn during chief immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci’s final White House press conference Tuesday.”
After the incident, Glebova tweeted that she “attempted to ask Fauci several times on what he personally did to demand answers into the origins of COVID-19. I always come with honest answers that Americans want to know. That’s why the White House refuses to call on me, and then calls ME ‘disrespectful.’”
Jean-Pierre has served as the White House press secretary since May and is the first Black person and the first openly LGBTQ person to assume the role. She previously served as the deputy press secretary to former press secretary Jen Psaki and served as chief of staff for Kamala Harris during her 2020 presidential campaign.
