She invited Adm. Rachel Levine, the U.S. assistant secretary for health, and Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House Coronavirus coordinator, to address the constant baby formula shortage and COVID-19 vaccines.
The event occurred after the White House had called a “lid” for the day - meaning reporters could leave - and participants declined to answer questions from the press.
“I’m not answering any questions. Thank you. Nice to meet you, though,” Levine said to journalists as she left the room after posing for pictures with some of the babies parents had brought along.
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Levine was questioned twice regarding when President Joe Biden was made aware of the baby formula disaster and who briefed the President on it.
“Any U.S. government official who stands at that podium should be ready to take any question from any member of our press corps – particularly one that gets at accountability on an issue of importance to the whole country,” White House Correspondents’ Association President Steven Portnoy said, according to the DailyMail.com when questioned regarding the incident.
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Previously, Jean-Pierre struggled to offer reporters a timeline on when the President discovered that baby formula would be in short supply.
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Biden told reporters earlier this month that he had learned of the problem in early April.
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Jha and Levine did Q&A with the bloggers and representatives from parents’ groups.
The baby blogger briefing wasn’t on the official schedule and wasn’t live-streamed on the White House site.
Reporters who were nonetheless at their White House workspaces stumbled upon it.
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“After hosting a faux press briefing on the baby formula crisis, Admiral Levine posted with babies at WH podium,” tweeted The New York Post’s Steven Nelson, sharing a photo of Levine chatting up a mom and a baby.
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Nelson, working as the day’s pool reporter for print publications, sent reports stating that Levine declined to do Q&A with the journalists in the room.
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Journalists cover the White House by having a smaller “pool" of reporters send out reports to everyone else.
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Earlier, the new press secretary had many contentious back-and-forths with reporters during her scheduled briefing, including when President Joe Biden was last tested for COVID-19.
Biden was with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau several days last week before Trudeau tested positive for the Coronavirus.
Biden’s top medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has COVID.
Later, NBC News reported that Biden has twice tested negative for COVID since last week’s Summit of the Americas, citing “a source familiar with the matter.”
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