President Joe Biden appeared clueless when asked about extending the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Title 42 measure on Thursday at the White House.
Iinstead of talking about Title 42, the president began talking about the ongoing legal appeal from the Justice Department challenging a judicial order overruling the CDC’s mask mandate on airplanes.
“Because as a matter of principle, we want to be able to be in a position where if in fact it is strongly concluded by the scientists that we need Title 42 that we’d be able to do that,” Biden said, when asked if he was considering extending the authorities beyond the scheduled expiration date in May.
“There has been no position on extending Title 42,” he concluded.
Reporters soon realized the president had mixed up the talking points about the mask mandate and used them to talk about Title 42.
Biden appeared to conflate mask mandate with Title 42 in response to @JenniferJJacobs question at end of Ukraine remarks. Said there had been "no decision on extending Title 42" but unclear if he means mask mandate or immigration provisions
— Justin Sink (@justinsink) April 21, 2022
Asked if he is considering delaying lifting Title 42, Biden answered about the mask mandate. Said DOJ will appeal that. “If it is strongly concluded by the scientists that we need Title 42 that we be able to do that. But there has been no decision on extending Title 42." pic.twitter.com/Nrh4ptAIq7
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 21, 2022
At no point in his remarks did Biden realize his mistake.
Biden apparently had no idea what Title 42 was about, choosing instead to talk about the CDC’s decision to extend their mask mandate for two weeks.
That decision was overturned by a federal judge, prompting the White House to scramble to defend the order.
The CDC on Wednesday evening asked the Justice Department to appeal the judicial ruling ending the mask mandate.
About an hour after Biden’s press conference, the White House issued a statement from the president clarifying his comment:
“I want to clarify that, in comments at the conclusion of my remarks this morning, I was referring to the CDC’s mask mandate and there is no Department of Justice action on Title 42,” he said.
It is still unclear whether the White House is considering extending Title 42, as even Democrats argue the administration does not have a plan to handle the increased influx of migrants planning to cross the border.
China Joe's scheme to kill Title 42 and unleash an unprecedented flood of illegal aliens surging to America is SO bad, even nine Senate Democrats are blasting it. https://t.co/tlqM1Q0DGv
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 21, 2022
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday that the Biden administration planned to end Title 42 in May.
“Right now, we are planning and preparing for the end of Title 42 enforcement on May 23rd,” she said.
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