WATCH: Karine Jean-Pierre Can’t Defend Biden Refusing to Comment on Trump Case

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struggled to defend President Joe Biden’s refusal to comment on the prosecution of his predecessor, despite the implications for the presidency — and Biden’s own future.

Jean-Pierre was questioned during a White House briefing by New York Times correspondent Michael Shear. He challenged her to explain why the president claims he cannot comment on a pending case, when he and the White House have commented constantly on the prosecution of participants in the January 6 Capitol riot.

That seemed to catch Jean-Pierre off guard. She accused Shear of lecturing to her, and also claimed — falsely — that police officers were killed during the riot at the Capitol building. (None died as a direct result of the riot.)

C-SPAN

Shear said that while it was understandable that the White House would not comment on the specifics of the case, there were certainly broader issued implicated in the case that would affect the presidency itself.

Separately, after a meeting with his science advisers, Biden was asked about the case, and simply laughed:

"Is the indictment of your predecessor politically divisive?"

BIDEN: *laughs* pic.twitter.com/YGDdBxE0iW

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 4, 2023

Conservatives have said that they want Republican prosecutors to pursue Biden and his relatives for charges of corruption — charges that, they argue, are actually substantive and serious, rather than the weak case Trump faces in New York.

The indictment against Trump, which was unveiled Tuesday, consists of 34 separate counts relating solely to the Stormy Daniels controversy, which few observers believe was a crime.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.