White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stomped away from her briefing Monday after a back-and-forth with a reporter over whether a question related to the federal response to Hurricane Helene was “misinformation.”
Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre to explain why the Biden-Harris administration had nearly $157 million at the ready to assist displaced people and refugees in Lebanon, but needs to beg Congress for additional funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as FEMA faces a shortfall in the aftermath of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene.
“We’ve taken this very seriously,” the White House spokeswoman responded. “More than $200 million that we have provided to the impacted areas, but instead, people want to do disinformation, misinformation, which is dangerous.”
When Doocy asked what the lack of additional funding for FEMA — noted by President Biden in a recent letter to congressional leaders — but available funds for Lebanon says about Biden’s “values,” Jean-Pierre again charged that his question was “misinformation.”
“Your whole premise of the question is misinformation, sir,” Jean-Pierre said.
“Excuse me?” Doocy shot back.
“Yes, yes, it’s misinformation,” the White House press secretary tripled down. “I just mentioned to you that we provided more than $200 million to folks who are impacted in the area.”
The 81-year-old president warned leaders of the House and Senate on Friday that “without additional funding, FEMA would be required to forgo longer-term recovery activities in favor of meeting urgent needs.”
“The Congress should provide FEMA additional resources to avoid forcing that kind of unnecessary trade-off,” Biden added, noting that in addition to the parts of the country devastated by Hurricane Helene, “many other communities are also in urgent need of disaster assistance.”
Doocy asked if Jean-Pierre would agree that Biden’s letter was not in fact “misinformation.”
“No, the way you’re asking me the question is misinformation,” she responded. “There is money that we are allocating to the impacted areas, and there’s money there to help people who truly need it.”
“You can’t call a question that you don’t like ‘misinformation,’” the Fox News reporter argued. “That’s very unfair.”
Jean-Pierre argued that the administration has “the money available to help survivors of Hurricane Helene and also Hurricane Milton” despite Biden’s letter to Congress.
She claimed the need for additional funding stems from not knowing “how bad” Hurricane Milton — a Category 5 storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico — is going to be.
“That’s exactly what I just asked about, and you said it was misinformation,” Doocy said.
“Congress needs to come back and do their job and provide extra assistance, extra funding to the Disaster Relief Fund,” Jean-Pierre said. “That’s what Congress needs to do, and we’re going to continue to urge that.”
“You may not want that, but that’s okay. That’s what this president wants, and that’s what the vice president wants,” she added, before slamming her notebook shut and storming out of the briefing room.
