In what is turning out to be a case of David and Goliath, the white House picked a fight with a local radio station based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
As reported by Political Intel, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appeared in a phone interview with 99.3 WBT. During the show, host Mark Garrison asked Jean-Pierre if President Joe Biden has dementia.
The question left Jean-Pierre raging, with the press secretary angrily cutting off the call at the end of her response. A tone signifying she had ended the call could be clearly heard after she hung up.
#KJP gets triggered. Hangs up. đ pic.twitter.com/2mU7m47GiX
— Tim Cramer (@CramerSez) March 27, 2024
The White House is, however, claiming that the radio station had edited the audio and added the tone to make it look like Jean-Pierre angrily ended the call. White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told the Daily Beast that Jean-Pierre ended the call because she had other interviews.
âAs she often does when the President travels, Karine had multiple back-to-back interviews with radio stations who were each offered seven minutes. Once the agreed-upon time was over, she called into the next interview so everyone could get their full time,â Bates said. âThis particular station chose not to air the full interview and instead artificially attached a sound effect that our phones do not make when calls end.â
Mark Garrison Reports: The Dial Tone Heard Around The Country https://t.co/Lech3Iuo0N
— Gary Markham (@gmarkha) March 27, 2024
Mark Garrison refuted Batesâs claims in a statement to the Daily Caller via email, adding that the tone had clearly been from her end.
âThe White House assertion that we added a sound effect is nonsense. When she hung up, the phone noise was purely from their end,â Mark Garrison said.
Garrison also told The Daily Beast via email that, contrary to Batesâ claim, there was no time limit for the interview.
âThere was no specific time limit of 7 minutes,â Garrison wrote in the email. âWe had been told the day before they we could talk for 5-10 minutes. After the third question, she hung up.â