WH Spox Attempts to Cover For Biden Not Knowing About DOJ Settlement to Pay Illegal Aliens

Wednesday we noticed the response from Joe Biden about his DHS, HHS and DOJ agreeing to pay illegal aliens restitution was clear and specific evidence Biden had no idea it was happening.  {Go Deep} The question from Fox News was the first time Biden had ever heard about the issue.

The people who really run the Executive Branch never told the White House occupant anything about the agreement, because Biden is essentially irrelevant to what they do on a daily basis.

As a result, Joe Biden called the media reporting “garbage” and said “it’s not going to happen.”  Thursday, the White House attempted damage control and spun the issue as if Joe Biden was just not aware of the settlement amount.   The strained attempt to cover for the reality was evident in Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s response from the podium. WATCH:

[Transcript]  … “President Biden is calling these reports about the administration paying up to $450,000 to illegal immigrants who are separated from family members “garbage.” He says it’s not going to happen. But the ACLU says that it is. So, who is right?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Are you talking about the question you asked him yesterday?

Q Yes.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, if it saves taxpayer dollars and puts the disastrous history of the previous administration’s use of zero tolerance and family separation behind us, the President is perfectly comfortable with the Department of Justice settling with the individuals and families who are currently in litigation with the U.S. government.    You know, DOJ can obviously speak more to that process. The President was — what he was reacting to was the dollar figure that was mentioned — that you mentioned to him yesterday.

As press accounts today indicate — there’s been press accounts on this — DOJ made clear to the plaintiffs that the reported figures are higher than anywhere that a settlement can land.

Again, this is a — this is something that the Department of Justice can speak to. I do not have anything more to add to this.

Q But if it’s not — if he’s not okay with $450,000, how much money is he okay giving these illegal immigrants?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: This is some- — again, Peter, this is something that the Department of Justice is going to handle. I just laid out what he was thinking and how this is — the process was moving forward. The DOJ will talk to the specifics of this.

Q And so what changed, then, from yesterday? You’re saying that he would be “perfectly comfortable” settling with these families who broke the law to come here, but, yesterday, he said, “That’s not going to happen.”

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: First of all, let’s remember how we got here, how we got to a place where we’re dealing with families being separated. This is coming from the last administration’s cruel, inhuman, immoral — immoral policies against — against just people. It’s separating children from their families — 18-month-olds, 2-year-olds, 5-year-olds from their families.

That’s how we got here is because of the last administration. This is what we’re trying to deal with here in this administration. So, let’s be very clear of how we got here and what’s happening.

Anything else that you would like to know about this, again, I’ll — I’ll send you to the Department of Justice. I can’t speak to specifics — any more specifics on this. (read more)