White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre interrupted and cut off Brandon to abruptly end his press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam Sunday evening.
Jean Pierre apparently acted to save Brandon 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 Brandon’s body clock. Brandon 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 Brandon in the middle of his speaking and abruptly end the press conference comes as a new book on the Brandon presidency reported he has complained his staff treats him “like a toddler.”
No mic drop here. Brandon gingerly bent over to set down his hand-held microphone after KJP interrupted him to tell him his press conference was over. Pool video screen image.
After putting the mic down, Brandon briefly answered one more question before shuffling off as the house music played him off the stage at the J.W. Marriott Hotel Hanoi.
Video:
WATCH: Brandon’s staff cuts off a rambling Brandon mid-sentence and abruptly ends his news conference.
I have never seen this occur with any other president. pic.twitter.com/LqvW2VsESH
— Andrew @ Don’t Walk, RUN! (@DontWalkRUN) September 10, 2023
Excerpt from the White House transcript of the end of Brandon’s press conference:
…But I tell you what, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go to bed.
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?
Q You have time for one more. We came all this way. We came all this way.
Q Are you putting U.S. strategic interests above human rights here in Vietnam?
THE PRESIDENT: (Inaudible) above human rights, and I’ve raised it with every person I met with.
Thank you.
The White House defended Brandon in a tweet posted to X on Sunday afternoon by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton, “Here on Earth, we saw the President start his day in India at the G20, end the day in Hanoi with a substantive & detailed 40-minute press conference at 9pm, and continue to answer questions—including from @cnn—as he departed. What will be enough?”
Here on Earth, we saw the President start his day in India at the G20, end the day in Hanoi with a substantive & detailed 40-minute press conference at 9pm, and continue to answer questions—including from @cnn—as he departed. What will be enough?https://t.co/gCtPHxXm2z
— Olivia Dalton (@ODalton46) September 10, 2023
Karine Jean Pierre said last Tuesday, “No one treats the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief, like a baby.”
Asked about the White House staff treating Brandon like a toddler:
KJP: “No one treats the President of the United States like a baby…that’s ridiculous.” pic.twitter.com/NLZlLQLDac
— Conservative War Machine (@WarMachineRR) September 5, 2023
Video clips of Brandon’s train wreck presser via the RNC:
“Good morning, Vietnam”:
BIDEN: “Good evening, everyone. It is evening, isn’t it? This around the world in five days is interesting. Well, one of my staff members said, ‘Remember the famous song, Good Morning, Vietnam?’ Well, good evening, Vietnam.” pic.twitter.com/PjvBtiVcLN
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 10, 2023
Not treated like a baby:
Brandon pulls out a list of pre-selected reporters he was instructed to call on at his “press conference” in Vietnam: “They gave me five people here” pic.twitter.com/l34khtcVbP
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 10, 2023
Where did he go?
Brandon gets distracted as he is being asked a question and wanders out of the camera frame pic.twitter.com/ZjRVfmS7YQ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 10, 2023
“I’ll just follow my orders here.”
Brandon gets VERY confused during his “press conference” in Vietnam:
“I’ll just follow my orders here. Staff, is there anybody that hasn’t spoken yet? I ain’t calling on you.” pic.twitter.com/8xSmP94ZZK
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 10, 2023
“He’s a lying, dog-faced pony soldier!”
BIDEN: “The Indian looks at John Wayne and points to the Union soldier and says, ‘He’s a lying, dog-faced pony soldier!’ Well, there’s a lot of lying, dog-faced pony soldiers out there about global warming!” pic.twitter.com/d98IdhKLRA
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 10, 2023
Worried about Hunter being indicted?
“Are you worried about your son being indicted, Mr. President!?”
BIDEN: *shuffles away* pic.twitter.com/lSNeGWb7fh
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 10, 2023