‘Let Me Unconfuse You’: Karine Jean-Pierre Hits Back at CNN Reporter Over Classified Docs Question

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced an onslaught of questions over revelations that President Joe Biden had taken classified documents with him upon leaving the vice presidency in 2017.

On Monday, CBS News reported that lawyers for Biden came across the documents while packing up files. A White House attorney said they “were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.”

Biden’s team immediately contacted the National Archives, which is supposed to have custody of the material in question.

Two days later, lawyers found additional classified documents at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced he is appointing a special counsel to investigate the matter.

During Thursday’s White House press briefing, CNN’s Phil Mattingly asked Jean-Pierre if there are potentially other locations where such documents may be stored.

“As far as the lawyers, they looked where the places where documents could have been stored and the counsel’s office released a statement on that,” she replied. “Now it is in the hands of the special counsel.”

“So, we should assume that it has been completed?” Mattingly asked.

“You should assume that it’s been completed,” she replied. “Yes.”

“The review was underway when you guys gave a detailed about the first set of documents,” Mattingly pressed on. “The review was underway when the president spoke about the first set of documents. You’re now saying that you didn’t talk about the second set of documents discovered almost a month prior because a review is underway. Like, I don’t understand. It doesn’t make any sense. If the review was underway the entire time, the only difference was that reporters had information on the first set of documents and therefore you chose to exclude the second set of documents until reporters got information on the second set of documents.”

“Well, let me unconfuse you for a second, Phil,” she replied. “We are trying to do this by the book. I said yesterday, this was under review by the Department of Justice and the process is as such. When the president’s lawyers realized the documents existed, that they were there, they reached out to the Archives, they reached out to the Department of Justice, rightfully so, may I add. That is what you’re supposed to do. As lawyers, that’s what they did, and they have fully been cooperating with the Department of Justice.”

“Nobody’s questioning that,” Mattingly shot back. “That’s not what we’re asking about. We’re asking about –”

“I’m telling you, though, there’s a process,” Jean-Pierre interrupted. “I just laid out what the process is and I’m telling you that we were trying to do this by the book and it was an ongoing process. I’m not gonna get beyond that, but that is how this works.”

Watch above via CNN.

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