White House National Security Council’s John Kirby avoids answering question about Biden’s ‘lies’ about 9/11, witnessing bridge collapse and his dead grandpa

One of President Joe Biden’s top advisers was left red-faced as he stumbled upon a simple question about the commander in chief’s consistent misleading claims during a news conference Wednesday.

The president’s latest gaffe, which came on Monday, saw Biden falsely say he was at Ground Zero on September 12, the day after the attack.

The National Security Council’s strategic communications coordinator, John Kirby, was invited by the administration to a press briefing when Jeff Mordock of the Washington Times asked him a direct question.

“In recent weeks, the president has lied about being at Ground Zero the day after the 9/11 attacks, falsely claimed to have seen the Pittsburgh Bridge collapse, and his grandfather died there. hospital a few days before he was born,” Mordock began.

“What’s going on with the president?” Does he just believe that things that didn’t happen happened, or is he just making things up randomly? What’s going on with the president?” asked the journalist.

Kirby smiled when the question was asked, then ignored the premise, instead discussing the president’s gratitude for being able to spend 9/11 with service members in Alaska this year and that Biden was deeply moved when He visited Ground Zero a full week after the September 11, 2001 attack.

“And it is working to ensure that an attack like this never happens again, which is why we have enhanced our counterterrorism capability on the horizon and why we continue to hold terrorist networks accountable ” said Kirby, who was called to testify. in the investigation into the withdrawal of Republicans from the House, added.

“And that’s why he spent so much time last week strengthening our national security interests in a vital part of the world on issues that are not necessarily related to terrorism, but are closely related to our capacity to ensure peace and prosperity there and around the world,” said the retired US Rear Admiral.

Following Kirby’s rambling and vague response, Mordock asked the question flatly again. “But he has repeatedly said things that didn’t happen didn’t happen, things are easily debunked. Why does he keep doing this?

“The president was grateful to spend this time with these family members and soldiers,” Kirby responded.

Biden claimed to have witnessed the bridge collapse in Pittsburgh during a speech on the economy in August.

“Many of you were with me when I was in Pittsburgh. And, by the way, Pittsburgh is the “City of Bridges.” More bridges in Pittsburgh than any other city in America. I saw this bridge collapse. I got there and saw it collapse. More than 200 feet off the ground, over a valley, it collapsed,” Biden said.

The National Security Council’s John Kirby stumbled after being recently asked about President Joe Biden’s frequent inaccuracies.

“The president was grateful to spend this time with these family members and these soldiers,” Kirby responded when asked about the president’s inaccuracies.

An aerial view of the two-lane span, on Forbes Avenue, over Fern Hollow Creek in Frick Park, one of Pittsburgh’s largest parks, collapsed around 7 a.m. in January 2022, taking several vehicles with it.

The collapse occurred a full six hours before Biden appeared on the scene.

In reality, the collapse occurred at 7 a.m. on January 28, 2022. Biden visited the site of the collapse at 1 p.m. that day. He was expected there for a speech on infrastructure.

The other case Mordock discusses stems from the same event in which Biden said: “And, by the way, my grandfather Biden, who died very young – he was – died in the hospital where I was born six days before I arrived, I mean before I was born.

In fact, Biden, who told the same story in April 2023, told his grandfather, oil executive Joseph Harry Biden, in a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, in September 1941. Biden was not born until later 12 months later and 200 miles away. in Scranton.

His maternal grandfather, Ambrose Finnegan, died in the same hospital where Biden was born, but not before the president was 14 in 1957.

The awkward exchange between Mordock and Kirby came just before Rep. Nancy Pelosi also gave a classic non-answer to Anderson Cooper during an interview Wednesday night.

Pelosi, 83, was asked if she thought “there was a chance that (Biden) wouldn’t continue to run,” Pelosi responded less than definitively: “I hope not, I hope that no”.

The situation got worse when Pelosi was asked if Vice President Kamala Harris was “this president’s best running mate.”

She replied, “He means it, and that’s what matters.” She is very politically savvy. I don’t think people give him enough credit. His values ​​are consistent with those of the president. Why would she be vice president if she wasn’t?

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed to duck a bit when asked if she thought Vice President Kamala Harris should be on the ticket in 2024, saying only that President Biden “thinks so and that’s what matters.”

“He means it, and that’s what matters,” Pelosi said. “She’s very politically savvy. I don’t think people give him enough credit.

Prodded again by Cooper, Pelosi dodged the question anyway, but began smiling, laughing and even looking up conspiratorially as she spoke. The CNN star was off-camera at the time and it’s unclear if he did anything to amuse her.

Speaking with a smile, Pelosi said: “She is the vice president of the United States. People say to me: why doesn’t she do this or that? I say, because she is the vice president. This is the job description. You don’t do much.

Ultimately, Pelosi praised Harris’s job performance.

“You know, you are a source of strength and inspiration and intellectual resources and everything else and I think she has represented our country very well here and abroad.”

Pelosi also mocked a column by David Ignatius in the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post that challenged both Harris and her boss, writing: “President Biden should not run again in 2024.” »

Ignatius largely praises Biden’s early years in office, saying the Democrat has “governed from the center out” and done a good job on foreign policy in supporting Ukraine.

However, he says that not only Biden, but also Vice President Kamala Harris, should avoid running in 2024.

“It’s painful to say this, given my admiration for much of what they accomplished. But if he and Harris campaign together in 2024, I think Biden risks destroying his greatest achievement: stopping Trump.

He cited disastrous poll numbers for Biden in terms of approval ratings and public opinion of his age.

A Wall Street Journal poll released Monday found similar results, with 73 percent of voters saying Biden is too old to run again, including two-thirds of Democrats.

Harris dismissed concerns and said Biden was prepared to serve as president until January 2025.

“First, let me say that our president has been an extraordinary leader who has accomplished things that previous presidents hoped, dreamed and promised to do, but did not achieve,” he said. -she declared.

“So yes, I see him every day, a lot of the time we spend together is in the Oval Office, where I see his ability to understand problems and solve them in a way that no one else does. “Nothing else can do to make intelligent decisions. And important decisions on behalf of the American people have been made,” Harris continued.

“And so I will tell you that I think the American people ultimately want to know that their president keeps his promises – and that Joe Biden keeps his promises,” the vice president added.

Harris also responded in the affirmative when asked by Megerian if she was ready to become president.

“Yes,” she said.