‘At Their Absolute Worst!’ MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Pounds ‘Grotesque’ White House Press Over Biden Doctor Fracas At Briefing

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell savaged the White House press corps over its “grotesque behavioral overreaction” to visitor log entries that fueled a briefing room fracas with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

At issue was a report by The New York Times that heavily suggested Dr. Kevin Cannard — a neurologist with expertise on Parkinson’s disease — may have been a frequent visitor to the White House in order to treat President Joe Biden.

During Monday’s briefing, Jean-Pierre tried to dispel that notion without divulging what she described as sensitive security-related information. KJP noted that Biden was seen by a neurologist on three occasions for his annual physical, that he has not and is not being treated or tested or medicated for Parkinson’s, and that she wouldn’t confirm Cannard’s visits by name. A fracas ensued.

Later Monday night, Dr. O’Connor released a letter explaining the whole thing, and that he had secured permission to release the information.

On Monday night’s edition of MSNBC’s The Last Word, O’Donnell tore into the Times and the White House reporters as he read from O’Connor’s letter:

If you saw any of the White House press briefing today, it was the White House press corps, many of them at their absolute worst in the way they approached press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who was trying to be responsive to medical questions where there were limitations on what she could say.

The New York Times’ reporting of the way the press secretary handled that was to say that she “dodged” the questions. That is not true! The New York Times is wrong about that.

She responded to every one of the questions. She didn’t answer the questions with the name that they were asking for of a particular doctor. She didn’t give the answer The New York Times wanted or other reporters wanted, but she did, in fact, answer every single time.

The reporters kept banging on about a New York Times report today that indicated that a neurologist had visited the White House eight times in the last year.

Here is the full explanation of how that has nothing to do with President Biden and President Biden’s health, and that the kind of out of control behavior by the White House, most of the White House press corps, not all, most of the White House press corps today, was as bad a circus as it looked like.

The president’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, has publicly released a memo that is directed to Karine Jean-Pierre. Basically in response to what she had to go through today, in the White House press briefing.

[reads from Dr. O’Connor’s memo]

…

And so the White House press corps that wanted to know — wanted the White House today to confirm, that, that this neurologist had visited the White House eight times. And that is that’s information that is only available to the press corps, because the Biden White House reveals the records of every visitor of the White House.

How many times did a neurologist visit the Trump White House? The White House press corps has no idea and will never know, because the Trump White House never, ever released the White House visitor logs. How many cardiologists visited the White House during Donald Trump’s time there? We have no idea, because the Trump White House hid all of that information.

The only reason The New York Times knows that this doctor was in the White House logs is because the White House, the Biden White House, unlike the Trump White House, makes that information public.

[reads from Dr. O’Connor’s memo]

…

This information that I just read has been public since February 28th.

Absolutely no neurological issues whatsoever in the president’s physical exam. And now we know that the neurologist who conducted the neurology part of that annual exam, was Doctor Cannard, who has for other purposes, for completely different purposes, visited the White House eight times according to the White House visitor logs that are available to the press only because the Biden White House allows those to be made public, after the Trump White House banned those from ever being seen by anyone.

That’s one of the big differences between the presidency of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. One of the smaller differences, one of the least dangerous differences between them, although it is extremely risky, especially in Trump world, not to have any record, no idea who has actually visited the White House.

That could actually be a very risky proposition for this country to be living with a White House where you have no idea who’s going in and out.

We have other issues to talk about tonight, and we will, but this breaking news about what The New York Times thought today was its its giant, scandalous scoop that a neurologist had visited the White House eight times and that the White House press corps treated as the most important news to hit that room in — I don’t know, as long as there has been a Biden presidency, that’s for sure.

The grotesque behavioral overreaction by the White House press corps today, most, not all of the White House press corps, was on display on video. It has now been answered in full and completely by Dr. O’Connor, President Biden’s physician in the White House. So that controversy is done.

Watch above via MSNBC’s The Last Word.

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