Biden coined baffling excuse to explain one of his most infamous gaffes, spokeswoman reveals
WASHINGTON — President Biden was responsible for coining the confusing excuse to one of his most infamous gaffes, instructing staff to say he was looking for Rep. Jackie Walorski at an event — a month after her death — because she was “top of mind,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.
Jean-Pierre, asked about the bizarre excuse she once gave to reporters over her boss’s embarrassing 2022 flub, passed the buck to the 81-year-old embattled commander in chief.
“Honestly, I spoke to the president right before coming out that day, and that is what the president told me,” the White House spokeswoman said as she defended her past remarks on the president’s cognitive fitness.
“It’s not something that came from me, that is something that came from the president,” she said, responding to questioning from CNN’s MJ Lee.
“That was coming from him,” Jean-Pierre went on, “and I was delivering directly from the president what he was thinking at the time.”
Jean-Pierre also said that “yes,” Biden commits to serving a full second term if he wins the Nov. 5 election, despite broad doubts including among fellow Democrats.
Biden would be 86 if he completes a full second term in January 2029.
The president had stunned viewers by searching for Walorski at an anti-hunger event two years ago — because he had publicly mourned the Indiana Republican’s death in a car accident about one month before, including by issuing a public statement, calling her family to offer his condolences and even lowering White House flags for two days in her honor.
The president’s remark, “Where’s Jackie?” stoked an intense bout of press coverage and speculation that his memory was worsening with age.
Jean-Pierre dutifully deployed the “top of mind” explanation at a briefing hours afterward, giving near-identical iterations of the answer to reporters from ABC, CNN, CBS and the Washington Post.
“Karine, I have John Lennon top of mind just about every day, but I’m not looking around for him anywhere!” Newsmax reporter James Rosen quipped at that briefing.
At another point, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett protested, “Top of mind is not an answer.
“We were asking about the mental acuity of the president,” Halkett said at the time. “These moments of confusion are happening with increased frequency. Americans are watching this, and they’re having concerns. What do you say to that?”
Jean-Pierre blunted that direct line of questioning by reprimanding Halkett that “it is not your turn to speak, and you’re being rude to your colleagues,” even though it’s common for White House journalists to jump in and advance another reporter’s line of questioning.
The late congresswoman’s brother, Keith Walorsk, had told The Post of Biden’s gaffe, “I just feel sorry for him.
“I don’t think anybody would look at the things that he’s done and say that his mind is as sharp as it used to be. … He is doing the best he can do with what he’s got right now.”
The president apologized to Walorski’s family during an Oval Office meeting the next month.
Biden’s fitness for office has been the central subject in the presidential campaign since his disastrous June 27 debate against former President Donald Trump, where Biden appeared confused and made puzzling remarks, including that he “finally beat Medicare.”
Since the debate, nine House Democrats and the New York Times editorial board have pleaded with Biden to end his bid for a second term. Other elected Democrats have expressed concern about his viability or predicted that he will lose to Trump.
