Watch: Press Sec's Live Reaction to the Queen's Death Proves Biden Admin Is Totally Incompetent
Throughout the morning hours of Thursday, there was speculation and reports of the Royal family converging on Scotland — events were canceled and trips re-routed. For several days beforehand, there were reports that the health of Queen Elizabeth II was tenuous.
Most notably, “amid ongoing health and mobility concerns” according to The New York Post, Prime Minister Liz Truss joined the queen at Balmoral in Scotland to form a government on Monday. Ordinarily, this would happen in London at Buckingham palace.
But somehow, the White House and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre managed to be completely blindsided by the monarch’s death. Many are wondering: How?
Hours before, Nadine Batchelor-Hunt, a broadcaster and political correspondent with YahooNews U.K. had tweeted images showing BBC anchors gradually changing into black clothes, standard procedure for a Royal death.
— Nadine Batchelor-Hunt (@nadinebh_) September 8, 2022
The gathered reporters at the White House briefing began asking Jean-Pierre about the Queen’s death when the news broke, according to the White House transcript.
Karine Jean-Pierre reacts to the breaking news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death. pic.twitter.com/1iNBKxnMdX
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 8, 2022
Here are a few highlights from the briefing directly from the White House transcript, and they’re still pretty painful.
JEAN-PIERRE: “So here’s the thing: The Inflation Reduction Act –”
REPORTER: “Karine –”
REPORTER: “Karine, the Queen has died.”
REPORTER: “The Queen died.”
JEAN-PIERRE: “Okay, all right. Okay. So that’s been confirmed?”
REPORTER: “The Royal Family has tweeted.”
REPORTER: “Yeah.”
JEAN-PIERRE: “So, as I said earlier, you know, our hearts and our thoughts go to the family members of the Queen, goes to the people of United Kingdom.
“I don’t want to get ahead of what the President is going to say. I want him to — from you all to hear from him first, and so I don’t want to get ahead of that.
“But — and I said this earlier: Our relationship with the people of the United Kingdom — and this is something that the President has said himself — has grown stronger and stronger. And it is one of our — the United Kingdom is one of our closest allies.
“And, again, our hearts go to the people of the United Kingdom, to the Queen, and to her family.
“I’m just not going to go get ahead of the President.
“And with that, I’ll see you guys on Monday. Thank you.”
So how is it that Jean-Pierre, whose intel — arguably — should be better than that of any newsroom, hadn’t prepared for what would undoubtedly be the most important story of the day?
Consider the common practice that a vast majority of news outlets have pre-written scripts and statements ready to go within minutes for use in the event of a prominent death — particularly for public figures of advanced age.
How could the White House be this inept and unprepared?
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
