White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest is defending Joe Biden in the wake of the vice president’s recent spate of gaffes.
During the White House briefing Monday, ABC’s Jon Karl rattled off a number of examples of Biden causing problems for the administration recently.
“The vice president has apologized to the Emirates,” Karl said. “He has apologized to the Turks. He may or may not apologize next to the Saudis. A few weeks ago he apologized to the ADL for using the term Shylocks. He took heat for using the term Orient to describe Asia. He praised Bob Packwood before a women’s group.”
“This is all in the past few weeks,” Karl continued. “What is the president’s response to his vice president going out and continually needing to apologize for things he’s said?”
Earnest replied: “I’ll say a couple things about that. The first is I think the vice president is somebody who has enough character to admit when he’s made a mistake.”
Karl countered that Biden has made “a lot of mistakes in a short period of time.”
“The fact of the matter is the vice president is somebody who continues to be a core member of the president’s national security team.” Earnest continued. “He is somebody who has decades of experience in dealing with leaders around the globe, and the president is pleased to be able to rely on his advice as we confront the variety of challenges that are so critical to American national security.”
Pressed by Karl, Earnest wouldn’t say whether Biden has apologized to President Barack Obama for the gaffes.