White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reminded CNN White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond that state dinner invites for a president’s family members are “not uncommon” after he asked about Hunter Biden’s invite in the wake of a plea agreement he reached with the Department of Justice.
Biden reached a plea deal on gun and tax evasion charges on Tuesday, two days before he attended a state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the week.
Diamond, on Friday, asked Jean-Pierre if she could break down President Joe Biden’s “thinking and decision-making” related to the invitation before she snapped back at the reporter’s question.
“I’m just not going to get into family discussion, personal family discussion. As you know, Hunter is his son. I’m just not going to get into that,” Jean-Pierre replied.
Diamond went on to ask Jean-Pierre what would occur if Hunter Biden wasn’t related to the president.
“Well, let me ask you this: If Hunter Biden wasn’t the President’s son, would he have invited someone who had just reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors two days…,” Diamond asked.
“Well, a couple [of] things. Again, that’s his son… he’s a family member. It is not uncommon for family members to attend events at the White House. We could look at past presidents; I’m sure you have. So that is not uncommon,” Jean-Pierre asserted.
“As it relates to anything related to — to Hunter, I’m just not going to respond to it from here.”