"Your question is wrong, it's flawed in many, many ways and I would advise you to go speak to the governor and the local and state officials in Hawaii."
Generally convivial, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was not having any of Fox News' Peter Doocy's implication that the President was too busy vacationing to help the people of Maui. We are used to a give-and-take where Doocy asks stupid questions, and either the PressSec or President Biden himself groans a little and then manages Doocy like a school child. Not so this time, as Jean-Pierre doesn't allow Doocy to get away with even a soundbite.
"It seems like the hurricane response so far is robust," Doocy said of the Biden administration's efforts to assist the people of Florida who are being impacted by Hurricane Idalia.
"Did you guys realize that the initial Hawaii wildfire response was not that good? Or is it just easier for people to get help from the White House when the President is not on vacation?" he asked, furthering a conservative claim, derided and denied by Democrats in Hawaii, that President Biden and his administration did not respond in a timely manner to the deadly blazes in Maui.
"So the premise of your question and the way you posed your question, I disagree, just for the record," an apparently angered Jean-Pierre responded.
"So if you talk to, if you were to do your reporting and speak to the governor of Hawaii, the senators of Hawaii, the folks on the ground, they would say that the President reacted in record time when it came to dealing with the wildfires, when it came to dealing and making sure that they got everything that they need on the federal level to do what what was going on in the ground. Let's not forget there were more than 600 federal employees on the ground already to assist with the wildfires in Maui. So your question is, is wrong, it's flawed in many, many ways. And I would advise you to go speak to the governor and the local and state officials in Hawaii."
