White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had to shout down a belligerent reporter during her press briefing on Thursday, after the reporter expressed outrage at not being called on.
The incident occurred in the final minutes of the briefing as Jean-Pierre was attempting to allow another reporter to ask a final question. The frustrated reporter erupted, shouting her own questions over Jean-Pierre's protests.
"I was supposed to go to Chris in the back and I skipped him, so I'm gonna go back to him," the press secretary said, prompting the shouts.
"I've been asking you a question for a long time," the second reporter said as the first attempted to begin his question.
Jean-Pierre then cut her off, saying, "You're not being respectful." "Go ahead," she added, gesturing toward the reporter she called on.
The other reporter persisted, however, continuing to yell that she had been attempting to ask a question for "more than a week."
"Respect your colleagues. Respect your colleagues," Jean-Pierre responded. "I'm sorry, Chris, you're going to have to start from the beginning because there was some disrespect happening."
JEAN-PIERRE FLOUNDERS QUESTIONS ON BIDEN'S LAST COVID TEST
JEAN-PIERRE ON DRILLING MORE IN THE U.S.: ‘WE DON’T NEED TO DO THAT'
The female reporter once again shouted over her colleague's question.
"You're being disrespectful," Jean-Pierre repeated.
The incident is merely the latest occasion that members of the White House press pool have expressed frustration with Jean-Pierre, who took over from former White House press secretary Jen Psaki earlier this year.
Several members of the pool complained in July that Jean-Pierre has a tendency to give non-answers or say outright that the White House has no comment on the news of the day.
"She is poorly received as she isn’t taking time to answer questions or banter with reporters on the issues of the day," one White House reporter said at the time. "A press secretary has to share some information, kind of a give and take, but she just doesn’t appear willing to do that yet… Too often, she is telling reporters that she 'has nothing from the podium' to say, which is a waste of everyone’s time."
