White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to answer questions from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy regarding President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents Tuesday.
Doocy pressed the White House regarding Biden’s travel to Delaware after documents were discovered at his Wilmington home. Jean-Pierre stonewalled his questions, however, saying she refused to “go down a rabbit hole” on the topic.
“After the special counsel was named, but before the FBI searched, President Biden went to his house in Wilmington. What was he doing in there?”
“I would refer you to the White House Counsel’s office,” Jean-Pierre responded.
“So, something relating to this case,” Doocy inferred.
“I would refer you to the White House Counsel’s Office,” Jean-Pierre repeated.
“Do you think that the story was leaked by someone trying to bruise the president politically ahead a reelection announcement?” Doocy asked?
“I would refer you to the White House Counsel’s Office, as they’ve been the ones who have been closely involved,” Jean-Pierre said once again.
“More basically, we know the president did it. Why did he do it?” Doocy pressed.
“I would refer you to the White House Counsel’s office,” Jean-Pierre said.
Doocy tried another time: “In the president’s own words, he admits to having information that wasn’t his. Why did he smuggle it out?”
“I will let the statement of the president stand for itself. I’m just not gonna go down a rabbit hole with you on this,” Jean-Pierre said before calling on another reporter.
The exchange came days after investigators found a third stash of misplaced classified documents inside Biden’s Wilmington home. Four batches have been found in total, including one uncovered in the Washington offices of Penn Biden Center in November.
The Jan. 20 DOJ search resulted in the confiscation of six items with classification markings. While the previous batches of classified documents were dated to Biden’s time as vice president, this fourth batch came from his time in the Senate.
It is unclear where in the home the documents were found. Previous stashes were located in Biden’s garage.
Biden lawyer Bob Bauer reiterated Saturday that the president and his administration were cooperating fully with the DOJ’s investigation.
“At the outset of this matter, the president directed his personal attorneys to fully cooperate with the Department of Justice,” Bauer said. “Accordingly, having previously identified and reported to DOJ a small number of documents with classification markings at the President’s Wilmington home.”
“In the interest of moving the process forward as expeditiously as possible, we offered to provide prompt access to his home to allow DOJ to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material,” he added.