Fact check: Video altered to show White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre avoiding question
The claim: Video shows Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly ending press conference to avoid answering question
Some social media users are sharing a video that appears to show White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly ending a press conference after a reporter asked a question critical of President Joe Biden's energy policies.
The video shows Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy ask, "So, you’re asking oil companies to further lower gas prices. What makes you think that they are going to listen to an administration that is ultimately trying to put them out of business?"
Jean-Pierre then responds by asking, "How is the administration trying to put them out of business?"
Doocy replies, "Well, they produce fossil fuels, and this president says he wants to end fossil fuel.”
The video then shows the two staring at each other silently for a few moments before Jean-Pierre is shown thanking the attendees and gathering papers as though she is about to leave the room.
The video was shared in an Oct. 19 Facebook post, but it spread most widely on Twitter, where a version of the claim from Oct. 26 accumulated more than 8,000 retweets and 30,000 likes.
But it has been altered to remove Jean-Pierre's response to Doocy's question. She offered an extended response and did not stand silent or abruptly end the press conference.
USA TODAY reached out to the Twitter user who shared the post for comment. The Facebook user could not be reached.
Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks
Video altered, Jean-Pierre answers question in original footage
An unedited version of the exchange between Jean-Pierre and Doocy, which took place at an Oct. 19 White House press briefing, can be found on C-SPAN.
Instead of abruptly leaving, the video shows Jean-Pierre respond to Doocy's comment by saying, "So look, I – you kind of asked me this question yesterday. And here's – here's where –??????? what we would say: U.S. oil production is up and on track to reach a record high next year."
She then goes on to say that more oil was produced in Biden's first year in office than in former President Donald Trump's first year. She says oil companies are "raking in record profits" and have "no shortage of opportunity or incentive" to ramp up production.
Contrary to what was presented in the altered video, Jean-Pierre then fielded questions for roughly 10 more minutes before leaving the press conference.
Fact check: Video edited to insert audio of child swearing at Jill Biden during Diwali speech
Our rating: Altered
Based on our research, we rate ALTERED a video that appears to show Jean-Pierre abruptly ending a press conference to avoid answering a question. In the original exchange, Jean-Pierre responded to the question and didn't end the press conference until 10 minutes later.
Our fact-check sources:
Reuters, Oct. 27, Fact Check-Altered video shows White House press secretary dodging oil-companies question
C-SPAN, Oct. 19, White House Daily Briefing
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.
Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Video of White House press conference altered, misleading