White House stands by ‘cheap fakes’ defense following Biden debate

The White House is defending its forceful denunciation of “cheap fakes” following a halting debate performance last week in which President Joe Biden at times struggled to keep his train of thought.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced questions Tuesday about whether the decision to dispel videos allegedly showing Biden’s mental decline as misinformation, part of a counteroffensive by the White House, was a mistake following the debate against former President Donald Trump.

Pressed on whether she regretted any of her “language” attacking media outlets for amplifying those videos, the press secretary answered simply, “None at all.”

“Let me be clear. It was a certain part of the media,” she continued. “Look, independent, mainstream fact-checkers in the press and misinformation experts have been calling out cheap fakes, and at the end of the day, they’re fakes — that’s what they were — targeting the president.”

“Reporters and these misinformation experts said that this president was being targeted, and what we did was echo that out. That’s what we did, and we’ll certainly continue to call that out,” Jean-Pierre said. “I don’t regret it at all.”

Biden’s performance during Thursday’s debate has set off a panic among Democratic officials, operatives, and lawmakers. The president, according to Jean-Pierre, is holding a number of conversations with Democratic governors and members of Congress around the Fourth of July as he attempts to ease those concerns.

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You can watch Tuesday’s briefing in full below.