A local radio station in North Carolina is accusing the White House of lying about an interview they did with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in which she seems to hang up after being asked questions about the president’s mental state and the economy.
Jean-Pierre appeared on 99.3 WBT with Mark Garrison, a local radio station based in Charlotte, before President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took a trip to Raleigh, North Carolina, for a campaign stop. Jean-Pierre appeared to abruptly end the interview after becoming frustrated with Garrison’s questions, ending the interview with a dial tone after hanging up on the host.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told the Daily Beast that the press secretary had back-to-back interviews with radio stations and was trying to stay within time constraints. Bates added that the dial tone sound was edited in by the station, according to the outlet. The station disputed Bates’ claim to the Daily Caller, saying that the sound came from Jean-Pierre’s side.
“The White House assertion that we added a sound effect is nonsense. When she hung up, the phone noise was purely from their end,” Mark Garrison told the Daily Caller in an email exchange.
Bates referred the Daily Caller to the statement provided to the Daily Beast on Tuesday in response to Garrison’s claims.
Garrison told Jean-Pierre that many people asked him to ask the press secretary if the president is suffering from dementia. The press secretary called the question “incredibly offensive” before asking Garrison to move onto the next. Following the next question on the economy, Jean-Pierre seems to abruptly end the call.
“As she often does when the President travels, Karine had multiple back-to-back interviews with radio stations who were each offered seven minutes. Once the agreed-upon time was over, she called into the next interview so everyone could get their full time,” Bates said in a statement to the Daily Beast following Jean-Pierre’s initial interview. “This particular station chose not to air the full interview and instead artificially attached a sound effect that our phones do not make when calls end.”
WBT provided the Daily Caller with what they said was the raw audio of the interview in which a dial tone can be heard after Jean-Pierre ends the call.
After complying with Jean-Pierre’s request to move on from a question about the president’s mental state, Garrison asked the press secretary how Biden plans to win votes from Americans who have less “disposable income” than they did before he took office. (RELATED: Special Counsel Calls Biden ‘Well-Meaning Elderly Man With A Poor Memory’)
Jean-Pierre told Garrison that the president understands families who are struggling to make ends meet, bringing up that he was raised in a middle class family.
“Now you’re asking me about gas prices,” she continued. “The president took actions on gas prices, let’s not forget, Russia’s invasion on Ukraine skyrocketed prices on gas, and because the president took action we are in a different place than we were a year ago on gas prices.”
“Eggs, milk, seafood products, all the important groceries, those prices have gone down because of what this president has been able to do. And with that, thank you so much Mark. Have an amazing, amazing day,” Jean-Pierre concluded, followed by the sound of a dial tone.
“She hung up,” Garrison is heard saying in the audio he provided the Daily Caller.