White House Corrects Biden’s ‘Yes’ Answer On Israel Ground Invasion: ‘He Didn’t Hear The Full Question’
As President Joe Biden was boarding Air Force One on Friday took some shouted questions from reporters, including one about Israel sending ground troops into Gaza, and his answer caused some confusion and prompted a brief backlash.
As CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported on her X account, a reporter asked, “Should Israel delay the ground invasion until you can get more hostages out?”
Biden answered, “Yes.”
The response drew a snarky reply from the GOP.
But Biden’s answer was walked back by the White House on Friday night.
Collins tweeted shortly after her initial report that White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt claimed the president did not hear the full question. The White House put out a full statement.
Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy pointed out in his report that Biden appeared to hear the other questions just fine.
“Overnight, there was some real confusion here on the Biden beat as the president, who publicly supports whatever Israel wants to do against Hamas, appeared to confirm reports that privately he is telling the Israelis to pump the brakes,” said Doocy on Saturday’s Fox & Friends.
He read aloud from the official statement, which said, “The president was far away. He didn’t hear the full question. The question sounded like, ‘Would you like to see more hostages released?’ He wasn’t commenting on anything else.”
Doocy said the explanation is “kind of puzzling because he could apparently hear the first question just fine.”
“But they have now fully walked that back,” Doocy added. “He is at the beach house in Rehoboth. We don’t expect to see him again for the rest of the weekend.”
Former Ambassador John Bolton said on Friday that the release of a very small number of hostages by Hamas terrorists was a move designed specifically to delay the inevitable ground invasion by Israeli forces.
Watch the clip above, via Fox News.
