Why Didn’t Biden ‘Explicitly’ Tell Americans To Vote For Harris During Speech?: White House Asked

3 months ago

During Thursday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about President Biden not explicitly telling Americans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.

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Transcript

00:00You've mentioned now about what the president said last night about the vice president,

00:04but one thing he didn't do was explicitly tell Americans to vote for her.

00:08He said, now the choice is up to you, the American people.

00:11Why not use that moment when he had millions of people tuned in to say that message flat out?

00:17Because he was being mindful. This was an oval address.

00:20This was not a campaign political address. This was an oval address.

00:25And he thought it was important, as he said it, he started off his remarks talking about being at the Resolute Desk,

00:33talked about the space and the portraits that were in the room, the busts that were in the room,

00:38the importance, the heavy weight of that office.

00:41And he believed this was a monumental decision, as many of you have reminded me today, that he made.

00:47And he wanted to take that opportunity to talk through what he's been able to deliver,

00:52to talk about what it meant for him to be president, an honor of a lifetime,

00:58and to lay out what this next six months is going to be.

01:02And so that's what he wanted to focus on.

01:04There will be plenty of time, plenty of times for him to go out on the campaign trail

01:11and talk about choices and talk about what's at stake.

01:16I'm going to be very careful here, but there will be plenty of time to do that.

01:20And I feel like that was the time to do that was last night.

01:23And can you tell us a little bit about after the speech?

01:26We know from some social media posts, we could hear it here that the president walked down to the Rose Garden

01:31and several hundred staff were out there.

01:33But what was that like? What did he do afterwards, private time with family?

01:37Just tell us how his mood was afterwards.

01:39Look, it was a beautiful, beautiful moment.

01:41The president went to the Rose Garden.

01:44There were hundreds of staff cheering him on.

01:48Very proud to have been part of this administration, many of us,

01:51since the beginning of this administration, almost four years.

01:55And he also wanted to appreciate the staff.

01:58He knows how hard it's been, not just the past three and a half years,

02:01but certainly the past couple of weeks.

02:03And so I think it was a very special moment, a very proudful moment for the staff here.

02:11I was there out in the Rose Garden.

02:13Got to listen to him speak off the cuff and say thank you

02:18and talk about the work that we have been able to get done,

02:22the historic amount of work that we've been able to get done,

02:25and what's ahead the next six months.

02:27So, yes, there were hundreds of staff here in the Rose Garden.

02:31Some of us, I was able to be in the Oval and watch the president deliver the remarks.

02:37Many of the staffers were able to watch together here at the White House in the residence.

02:42And afterwards, we all came together and cheered on the president and thanked him.

02:48And he was able to thank us and appreciate us as well.

02:51Okay, John.

Why Didn’t Biden ‘Explicitly’ Tell Americans To Vote For Harris During Speech?: White House Asked

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