White House sidesteps one question about US reporter detained in Russia
Christian Datoc
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre avoided definitively saying whether Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained in Russia, had ever worked for the U.S. government.
Jean-Pierre faced a number of questions on the topic at Thursday’s White House press briefing, and when asked by a reporter if she “can say declaratively that Gershkovich never worked for and does not work for the United States government,” she pointed back to her previous comments.
WHITE HOUSE: RUSSIA’S JAILING OF WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTER IS ‘UNACCEPTABLE’
“I just said the charge of espionage is ridiculous. That is not accurate, and we find that incredibly ridiculous,” Jean-Pierre responded. “We’re going to be very clear about that. This is something that Russia has done all the time, many times before.”
“What I can say is the charges against him are ridiculous. We have been very clear about that. I’m not going to get into more specifics,” she said when pressed by the reporter that she had avoided the question. “I was very clear in my statement, that those are ridiculous and they’re not accurate, and right now, we’re going to do everything that we can to get more details on the circumstances. And that’s what we’re going to be at this time.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Biden administration had previously called Gershkovich’s detention “unacceptable,” and the White House issued a statement Thursday morning that the State Department was actively working to secure consular access for the American reporter.
You can watch Thursday’s briefing in full below.
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