National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan likened a reporter questioning a report that President Biden got angry and swore because of the poll numbers: “When did you stop beating your spouse?”
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy confronted Sullivan during the Daily White House press briefing about a report published by NBC News with the headline: “Behind the scenes, Biden has become angry and anxious about the re-election effort. »
Citing an unnamed lawmaker, the report claims that during a private meeting at the White House in January, Biden “began yelling and swearing” when the president’s allies told him about plummeting poll numbers in the States of Michigan and Georgia, in conflict with his mandate. management of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“There is a report that when President Biden learned that his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas was starting to affect his poll numbers, the quote is that he started yelling and swearing. So, When he does this, is he shouting and swearing about Netanyahu? or about Hamas or about its poll numbers?” Doocy asked Sullivan on Monday.
BIDEN SPEAKS WITH NETANYAHU AS US-ISRAELI TENSIONS OVER DIRECTION OF HAMAS WAR
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
“It’s the question ‘when did you stop beating your spouse’ because I don’t think he ever did that,” Sullivan responded.
“Excuse me?” Doocy intervened, before Sullivan continued.
“Well, you use that as the premise of your question, that’s when he does that. He – I’ve never seen him yell or swear in response to that. So from my point of view view, this particular report is not correct,” Sullivan said.
President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke Monday, March 18, in their first interaction in more than a month, as the divide widened between the allies over the food crisis in Gaza and the conduct of the war. (AP Photo)
Earlier, Doocy asked Sullivan why Biden let 32 days pass between phone calls with the Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“First of all, our teams are in touch every day at every level. President Biden gets a daily update – twice a day, sometimes nine times a day – on what’s happening. And he reserves his calls to the prime minister for when he “We think there is a clear, key strategic moment that needs to present itself,” Sullivan said.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan responds to a question from a reporter during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
“Second point, the Prime Minister, of course, knows how to reach President Biden. If the Prime Minister felt that he needed the President for any reason, he would have picked up the phone and called. And of course, during the In the last 32 days, President Biden has never refused a phone call from Prime Minister Netanyahu,” he added.
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Sullivan said the gap was evident because of the “normal give and take between two leaders, both leading their government, both leading their foreign policy, both working with their teams, and then at a key inflection point in the dialogue between the two parties who come together. and talk. I wouldn’t do more than that.
