A senior NBC White House correspondent was in no mood for jokes during the White House’s press briefing on Wednesday, admonishing a colleague’s barb about President Joe Biden.
During the White House’s press briefing, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell slammed Newsmax reporter James Rosen for a quip he made about the president.
The incident occurred as O’Donnell, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, began to ask White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre a question.
“We would invite the president to come down and tell us directly,” Kelly began.
Rosen quipped, “If he’s awake.”
“That’s inappropriate,” O’Donnell snapped back. Jean-Pierre was then quick to jump into the fray.
“As you heard from your colleague, the president of the WHCA, that’s inappropriate,” the White House press secretary admonished Rosen, albeit with a slight smile on her face.
She added praise for the NBC journalist, “Thank you, Kelly.”
Rosen’s joke was likely in reference to comments Biden made in Virginia Tuesday evening.
While discussing his stumbling debate performance during a campaign fundraiser, the president said, “I almost fell asleep onstage.”
He blamed his mental lapses on jetlag, saying, “I decided to travel around the world a couple of times … shortly before the debate.”
“It’s not an excuse but an explanation,” Biden told the audience in Mclean, Virginia. The president had returned to the East Coast from his travels 11 days before the debate.
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Biden has come under fire since the first presidential debate against former President Donald Trump. After a debate performance full of memory lapses, trailed-off sentences, and jumbled thoughts, top Democratic strategists and officials voiced concerns that the president is unable to lead their party to victory this November.
While saying Biden is “absolutely not” dropping out of the presidential race, the White House continues to reject requests for a cognitive test and has rebutted concerns that the president’s mental state is compromised.
