Jim Geraghty noted the bizarre exchange from yesterday’s White House briefing. For those who missed it, the administration’s Covid-⁠19 Response Coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha, was asked whether all schools “will and must” be open in the fall, and Karine Jean-Pierre jumped in to end the press conference before he could answer.

What makes things a bit weird is that Jha himself has long supported opening schools, a point he noted when firing back at the coverage:

I don’t get why the question was absurd. I’m glad to hear him reaffirm his support for in-person schooling, but from a public-communications perspective, it seems a bit odd to me that he didn’t just answer the question at the time, or that Jean-Pierre felt the need to nervously intervene. By my count, the statement, “I’ve been a huge advocate of keeping schools fully open to in person education since October of 2020[.] Still am[.]” is just 20 words. If that’s the case, and Biden agrees with this position, it seems like it would have been quick and easy to just say that in real time.