KJP Claims She Saw No Signs of Biden’s Decline Before the June 27, 2024 Debate

KING: “But I want to pick up on what Tony was saying, because I, too, thought that. And you said, people said, why didn’t members of his inner circle speak up about what many believe was the apparent decline of — of Joe Biden and you said you’re a member of the inner circle and you never saw the decline. After that I wrote, how?”
Jean-Pierre: “Yeah.”
KING: “You even write, Karine, you were on the plane with him going to the debate and you didn’t see anything.”
Jean-Pierre: “Well, we were —”
KING: “It is so hard to understand.”
Jean-Pierre: “— when we were on Air Force One going to the debate, you got to remember people were on the team, his family was on the team. I actually was — one of those rare trips I didn’t see him until after the debate even though I was on the plane. So, really, I take — I want everybody to know that I take this question incredibly seriously, I do.”
BURLESON: “Yeah.”
Jean-Pierre: “I was his White House press secretary, which means I had a role that saw him practically every day and traveled with him —”
KING: “And you saw nothing?”
Jean-Pierre: “— for more than 95 percent — we’ve always said we are not going to say, oh, he didn’t age. He aged —”
BURLESON: “Yeah.”
Jean-Pierre: “— and he poked fun at it. We always owned up and with age comes what happens when you get older.”
DOKOUPIL: “Which is?”
Jean-Pierre: “What I — what I — but when we talk about the mental acuity, and, again, I take this very, very seriously.”
BURLESON: “Yeah.”
Jean-Pierre: “I never saw anyone who wasn’t there. I saw someone who was always engaged.”
BURLESON: “Yeah.”
Jean-Pierre: “I saw someone who understood policy, pushed us on the policy, and also understood history. And there were times — I’ll tell you this story — there were times he would call me into the Oval Office and I would be like, ‘Oh, no, oh, no,’ because I knew whatever he was going ask me was going to be direct —”
BURLESON: “Yeah.”
Jean-Pierre: “— was going to be about a story he read or about how we’re pushing back, how we’re pushing a message forward.”