Clip of Karine Jean-Pierre ignoring Helene question is altered | Fact check

The claim: Video shows Karine Jean-Pierre avoided question on storm aid for North Carolina

An Oct. 24 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy questioning White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about disaster relief related to Hurricane Helene.

"The administration has money to send to Lebanon without Congress coming back, but Congress does have to come back to approve money to send to people in North Carolina," Doocy says in the video. "Do I have that right?"

The video then cuts to Jean-Pierre saying, "Thanks, everybody," before walking away from the lectern.

On-screen text in the video reads, "When a journalist asks the right questions!"

The Instagram post was liked more than 400 times in six days. A similar Instagram post was liked more than 70,000 times since Oct. 9.

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Our rating: Altered

The video was deceptively edited to remove Jean-Pierre's answer. Videos of the full briefing show she offered a response and then engaged in a back-and-forth with Doocy.

Jean-Pierre didn't ignore question on storm aid for North Carolina

The clip in the Instagram post comes from a press briefing Jean-Pierre held at the White House on Oct. 7, less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26. The storm carved a path of destruction across the Southeast and brought devastating flooding to western North Carolina. As of Oct. 30, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services had reported 101 Helene-related deaths in the state.

But Jean-Pierre did not abruptly end the press briefing without answering Doocy's question about storm aid for North Carolina, as the video in the post shows. The video was edited to mislead by cutting out the press secretary's answer and subsequent exchange with the Fox News reporter.

Videos of the full briefing from the White House and C-SPAN show Jean-Pierre defended the Biden administration's "whole-of-government" response to the storm, saying hundreds of millions of dollars in disaster aid had been directed to storm victims. She went on to say, in part:

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Fact check: Video of White House briefing altered to show abrupt end

The exchange between Jean-Pierre and Doocy continued for over two minutes, with Jean-Pierre saying the administration would continue to urge Congress – which is scheduled to return from a break in mid-November – to "come back and do their job and provide extra assistance" related to Helene and Hurricane Milton, which had not yet hit.

In an Oct. 17 article, CBS News reported about calls on lawmakers to return to Washington, D.C., to address the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. House Speaker Mike Johnson previously appeared on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 13, saying it would be "premature" to call lawmakers back before the affected states had made requests for aid based on a fuller accounting of their needs."It's going to take a long time to make those calculations, but Congress is ready to act, and we will," Johnson said.

USA TODAY has debunked an array of claims involving similarly altered videos of Jean-Pierre's press briefings, including videos edited to make it seem she avoided questions on the 2024 election, Biden's energy policies and attempts on former President Donald Trump's life.

USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram users who shared the video for comment but did not immediately receive responses.

Our fact-check sources:

• The White House, Oct. 7, Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

• The White House (YouTube), Oct. 7, 10/07/24: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

• C-SPAN, Oct. 7, White House Daily Briefing

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jean-Pierre didn't stop news conference over Helene query | Fact check