White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre interrupted and cut off Joe Biden to abruptly end his press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam Sunday evening.
Jean Pierre apparently acted to save Biden from further embarrassment in the gaffe-filled press conference that was bizarrely scheduled at the end of a whirlwind jet lag-inducing trip to India and Vietnam that wrecked the 80-year-old Biden’s body clock. Biden was so tired he told reporters, “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go to bed.”
The move by Jean Pierre to interrupt Biden in the middle of his speaking and abruptly end the press conference comes as a new book on the Biden presidency reported he has complained his staff treats him “like a toddler.”
After putting the mic down, Biden briefly answered one more question before shuffling off as the house music played him off the stage at the J.W. Marriott Hotel Hanoi.
Q What did you talk about with Mr. Li? You said you spoke to the number two from China, who wa- — in India today?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, we ta- —
Q What did you talk about with him?
THE PRESIDENT: We talked about what we talked about at the conference overall. We talked about stability. We talked about making sure that the Third World — the — excuse me — “Third World” — the — the — the Southern Hemisphere had access to change, it had access —
We — it wasn’t confrontational at all. He came up to me. He said (inaudible) —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Thank — thank you, everybody.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: This ends the cou- — press conference. Thanks, everyone.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you.
(Cross-talk.)
Q Mr. President, are you putting U.S. strategic interests above human rights here in Vietnam?
