White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denounced on Monday comments made by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democratic challenger to President Joe Biden's reelection efforts.
Kennedy claimed in a recently unearthed video that COVID-19 was genetically engineered to protect Chinese and Jewish people. The White House has thus far avoided commenting on statements by Kennedy by invoking the Hatch Act, which prevents official personnel from commenting on elections and candidates.
EXPERTS TORN OVER SUPREME COURT DIRECTION IN NEXT SECOND AMENDMENT CASE
During Monday's briefing, however, Jean-Pierre directly refuted Kennedy's claims.
"I think if you look at the last two, three years since 2020, since this pandemic hit, there are countless Americans, American families who are seeing an empty seat at the Thanksgiving table," she told reporters when asked about Kennedy's comments. "So the claims made on that tape are false. It is vile, and they put our fellow Americans in danger."
"If you think about the racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories that come out of saying those types of things, it's an attack on our fellow citizens, our fellow Americans, and so it is important that we essentially speak out when we hear those claims," Jean-Pierre continued.
The press secretary cited the American Jewish Committee's response to Kennedy, which claimed that "the assertion that COVID was genetically engineered to spare Jewish and Chinese people is deeply offensive, and incredibly dangerous."
"Every aspect of these comments reflect some of the most abhorrent antisemitic conspiracy theories throughout history and contributes to today's dangerous rise of antisemitism, and so this is something that, you know, this president and this whole administration is going to stand against," Jean-Pierre concluded. "It's important to protect the dignity of our fellow Americans, it's important to respect our fellow Americans, and so it is, as you can understand, the core principle of our country."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
You can watch Monday's briefing in full below.