White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during Monday’s press briefing that she was “surprised” by the “misinformation” surrounding President Joe Biden’s proclamation for “Transgender Day of Visibility.”
Biden faced backlash Saturday after the White House issued a proclamation Friday recognizing “Transgender Day of Visibility,” which annually falls on March 31 and was created in 2010. Easter Sunday 2024 fell on March 31. Jean-Pierre said she was shocked by the “misinformation” surrounding the proclamation, seemingly implying that critics of the proclamation do not understand how the calendar year works. (RELATED: Devout Catholic Joe Biden Makes No Mention Of Ash Wednesday For First Time During Presidency)
“So the criticism over the Transgender Day of Visibility, the White House said that the president wouldn’t abuse his faith for political purposes. Does the president think that is what Republicans are doing?” a reporter asked Jean-Pierre during the press briefing.
“Really, so surprised by the misinformation that has been out there around this. And I want to be very clear: every year for the past several years, on March 31, Transgender Day of Visibility is marked. And as we know, for folks who understand the calendar and how it works, Easter falls on different Sundays, right, every year. And this year it happened to coincide with Transgender Visibility Day. And so that is the simple fact. That is what has happened. That is where we are,” Jean-Pierre responded.
Jean-Pierre continued to add that a lot of the “misinformation” surrounding the proclamation had been done “on purpose.”
“And as a Christian who celebrates Easter with family, President Biden stands for bringing people together and upholding the dignity and freedoms of every American. Now, sadly — and it’s not surprising, right? It is actually unsurprising that politicians are seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful and dishonest rhetoric. It is dishonest what we have heard the past 24 hours. It is untrue what we heard over the weekend,” the press secretary added.
The press secretary continued to invoke previous statements from Fox News to justify the proclamation recognizing “Transgender Day of Visibility.”
“And, you know, we — we were, at first — I want to be very clear — confused on their coverage. We’re grateful that Fox agrees with President Biden about the importance of recognizing Trans Day of Visibility. And I’ll just quote something that Fox said back in 2021. They tweeted this, ‘Trans Day of visibility is dedicated to celebrating transgender people. To all the transgender men, women, and non-binary folk, we see you and stand with you,'” Jean-Pierre said.
Trans Day of Visibility is dedicated to celebrating transgender people, their contributions to society and raising awareness of discrimination they face. To all the transgender men, women and non-binary folx, we see you and stand with you. #TransDayOfVisibility #TVForAll pic.twitter.com/qpYIucSRya
— FOX (@FOXTV) March 31, 2021
“President Biden will never abuse his faith for political purposes or for profit. That is not what this administration is about. That is not what being a leader is about. And this misinformation out there is just — it’s just — it’s bad. And it is dividing — it is caused to divide us,” the press secretary continued.
BIDEN: “He’s thoroughly uninformed.”
During the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House, EWTN’s @owentjensen asked the President about Speaker Johnson calling out the White House for proclaiming Transgender Day on Easter Sunday.
Video by Sara Canals, DC Correspondent for… pic.twitter.com/SGE0qMZrZk
— EWTN News Nightly (@EWTNNewsNightly) April 1, 2024
The White House initially responded to the backlash Saturday in a statement to the Daily Caller, saying that politicians were seeking to “divide and weaken” the country with “cruel, hateful and dishonest rhetoric.”
Biden sparked more backlash Monday ahead of the White House press briefing after he took questions from reporters at the annual Easter Egg Roll.
“Speaker Johnson said you betrayed the tenet of Easter by proclaiming Sunday, Easter Sunday as Transgender Day,” Owen Jensen, EWTN’s White House correspondent, asked. “He called it outrageous and abhorrent. What do you have to say to Speaker Johnson?”
“He’s thoroughly uninformed,” Biden responded.
The president then attempted to expand on how Johnson was “uninformed.”
“I didn’t do that,” Biden said.
The president’s response to Johnson’s comments sparked an answer from the House Speaker and other social media users.
“This you, [Biden]?” Johnson wrote on Twitter.