White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was incredulous on Monday night when CNN host Don Lemon asked if she believed President Joe Biden has the stamina physically and mentally to continue on.
DON LEMON: The concern is the president during interviews where he doesn’t seem to answer questions directly or at times succinctly, his approval ratings, according to the latest Gallup poll, 40% of Americans approve of Biden’s job as president. How does he and you, because you are the spokesperson for the White House, plan to assure voters that he is still the best candidate to beat Trump? Is he at his best right now?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I think the thing that Americans love about President Biden is he’s a straight shooter. He is a straight shooter and he says it the way he sees it, he calls it out. And that is the thing that makes him genuine and authentic and real and people really, really connect with this president. I see it myself when we go into — we’re going to Philly, Pennsylvania. We just came back from New Mexico, we were in L.A., California. I travel with him all across the country and I see how people feel about this president and how much they appreciate what he has done. I think that matters. As far as the polls, our focus again is delivering for the American people. We’re making inflation our number one economic policy. There’s other issues that the president has to deal with and that is what he’s going to focus on and that’s how he’s going to continue to do.
LEMON: And there’s no concern within the administration about the president’s polling?
JEAN-PIERRE: That’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re focused — we are genuinely focused on how we can get the work done on behalf of the American people.
LEMON: Does the president has the stamina physically and mentally do you think to continue on even after 2024?
JEAN-PIERRE: Don, you’re asking me this question. Oh my gosh, he’s the president of the United States. I can’t even keep up with him. We just got back from New Mexico, we just got back from California. That is not a question that we should even be asking. just look at the work that he does. look how he’s delivering for the American public. Look, that — that article that we’re talking about is hearsay, it’s fallacious. That’s not what we care about. We care about how are we going to deliver for the American people? How are we make people’s lives better? That is his focus and that’s what we’re going to continue to focus on.
