During the daily press briefing, White House press secretary Josh Earnest dodged four consecutive questions from ABC’s Jonathan Karl about whether or not the White House agreed with Hillary Clinton’s remarks that small business creation in the United States has “stalled out.” (VIDEO: White House Refuses To Deny Hillary Gave Favorable Treatment To Clinton Foundation Donors)
KARL: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton you may have heard is in New Hampshire…Regarding small business creation, she says that small business creation has ‘stalled out’– she was surprised to learn this — stalled out in the United States. Does the White House agree with Hillary Clinton’s analysis of the state of the economy regarding small business?
EARNEST: I didn’t see the entirety of her remarks. But I can tell you that the president certainly believes that there is more that we can do here in Washington to put in place policies to further strength job creation in our economy. Whether that is important investments in rebuilding our infrastructure — the president believes that we can make some common-sense investments in infrastructure by merely closely some loopholes that only benefit the wealthy and well-connected…
KARL: Do you agree with Hillary Clinton that under President Barack Obama, small business creation has ‘stalled out’ in the United States?
EARNEST: I’m not sure that’s a direct quote; I suspect that it’s not. But the president has–
KARL: She used the phrase ‘stalled out,’ she said business creation has ‘stalled out.’ Do you agree that it has stalled out?
EARNEST: The president himself has said many times that there are additional important steps that could be taken by Washington D.C. where members of Congress to longer serve as an impediment to forward economic momentum, but actually that they can support it.
KARL: That’s not my question, though. I just asked, do you agree that small business creation has stalled out in the United States?
EARNEST: Again, I didn’t see the entirety of her remarks.
KARL: Forget what she said! Has small business creation stalled out in the United States?
EARNEST: We’ll take a look at the statistics and get back to you.