White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Biden supports people’s right to ‘speak out’ after hecklers repeatedly interrupted his high-profile campaign event in Virginia on abortion rights.
The president got interrupted time and again Tuesday after he flew by helicopter from the White House and spoke at a venue that an advance team decked out with signs calling to restore Roe v. Wade.
It was the kind of event that campaigns harness for TV ads – and was timed to the anniversary of the landmark case and the New Hampshire primary, which he won as a write-in Tuesday night.
‘It was a fiery speech. It was a deeply, deeply impactful speech. You heard how the crowd reacted to the speech,’ said Jean-Pierre when asked about the protests.
‘He respects all Americans — you know, their right to speak out as long — and make sure that their — their voices are heard, just as long — they do it in a peaceful way. That’s what we want to see,’ she continued.
President Joe Biden ‘people’s right to speak out peacefully,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked about repeated interruptions of the president’s remarks Tuesday
‘Obviously, the President respects people’s right to speak out peacefully,’ she said, saying the response to the protests is something for the Secret Service to speak to.
‘The President believes that Americans have the right to speak out, make their voice heard as long as they do it peacefully. And so, we respect that.’
She also spoke to DailyMail.com immediately after the protests on Tuesday night. ‘It’s a democracy,’ she said. She said she spoke to the president after his remarks and he didn’t mention the interruptions.
National security spokesman John Kirby also got asked about the protests, and whether it is having an impact on Biden’s perspective on a cease fire. Biden and the White House have repeatedly backed Israel’s right to defend itself, even while cautioning about some of its tactics in its war on Hamas inside Gaza.
‘I would remind that, since very early going in this conflict, we have been urging our Israeli counterparts to be careful and precise. We have talked about the civilian casualties and how we don’t want to see more. We have urged them to take different actions, and they have responded to that advice and counsel,’ said Kirgby.
Jean-Pierre National Security Council spokesman John Kirby each responded to questions about the protesters who interrupted the president
Biden has highlighted the case of Dallas mother Kate Cox, who left the state to have an abortion amid a fight over a new law that imposes restrictions. She plans to attend the State of the Union at Jill Biden’s invitation
‘He understands that there are strong feelings here on all sides, as you would expect. I mean, he’s been doing this a long, long time. He also believes it’s really important that Israel have the right and the ability to continue to defend themselves against which is — what is clearly still a viable threat from Hamas. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop, again, urging a stronger focus by our Israeli counterparts on minimizing civilian casualties and on getting aid in.’
Jean-Pierre also said Biden and first lady Jill Biden spoke to Texas woman Kate Cox, who sued and ultimately left the state to get an abortion after being diagnosed with a non-viable pregnancy.
‘They thanked her for her courage in sharing her story and speaking out about the impact of the extreme abortion ban in Texas. The First Lady invited Kate to join her as a guest at the State of the Union, and Kate accepted,’ Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.
The repeated questions came after Biden fired up Democrats at a ‘Restore Roe’ rally in Northern Virginia Tuesday, hoping to harness the issue that has kept Democrats competitive – but got interrupted repeatedly by anti-Israel protesters.
Biden scheduled a camera-ready event where he and other speakers went directly and repeatedly at Donald Trump, on when the Republican presidential nomintation was on the line in the New Hampshire primary.
One by one, protesters interrupted, forcing the president to pause his remarks while security removed them from the venue, which was decked out with pro choice signs and spotlights.
‘This is going to go on for a while. They got this planned,’ Biden said in frustration after the 7th such interruption.
He was assisted by the crowd, which chanted ‘Four more years!’ and ‘Let’s go Joe!’ after the interruptions, which repeatedly accused him of ‘genocide.’
‘Please don’t jump!’ Biden joked after the 10th interruption, by a woman holding a sign about Gaza amid Israel’s war on Hamas.
Protesters repeatedly interrupted President Joe Biden as he held a rally for reproductive rights in Virginia
The protests began almost as soon as the president began speaking. The president was in the process of thanking Amanda Zurawski, who had spoken about her struggles to get an abortion in her home state of Texas after experiencing medical complications at 18 weeks of pregnancy. She said she faced ‘catastrophic complications’ in 2022 when pregnant with a girl, and had told the crowd she was ‘devastated’ learning she would lose her baby with ‘100 per cent certainty.’
‘I want to thank you again Amanda for your absolute courage,’ Biden said.
At that point, a man who carried a Palestinian flag and shouted out ‘How many kids have you killed …?’ before the crowd shouted him down with chants of ‘Four more years!’ Another woman also protested and got ejected.
‘There’s one other person who doesn’t have a clue about the power of women in America, that’s Donald Trump,’ Biden said in one of the lines he was able to get out without being cut off.
Another protester yelled about ‘keeping baby formula from babies,’ calling it a war crime, in reference to the struggles in Gaza following Israel’s invasion after the October 7 Hamas attack inside Israel.
‘Keep going!’ a member of the crowd encouraged the president.
It was a demonstration of the difficulties Biden must navigate as he seeks to unify his party’s base amid a growing challenge from Trump. Polls have showed support slipping among younger voters and low approval for his handling of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
The event had been carefully planned out by an advance team, and scheduled right as the national media was focused on Trump’s duel with Nikki Haley in New Hampshire.
A total of five speakers read from a teleprompter, with Biden rattling off digs at Trump, who he defeated in 2020.
Protesters began interrupting the president soon after he started speaking at a rally for abortion rights
The interruptions came during an event where Biden and speakers hammered Donald Trump
‘Across our nation, women are suffering,’ said Vice President Kamala Harris’
The interruptions came during a packed rally set up with a huge digital sign
Vice President Kamala Harris kisses her husband second gentleman Doug Emhoff before President Joe Biden appears at an event on the campus of George Mason University in Manassas, Va.
Protesters repeatedly accused Biden of ‘genocide’ for backing Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza
Police remove a pro-Palestinian protester during the president’s speech
‘There’s one other person who doesn’t have a clue about the power of women in America, that’s Donald Trump,’ he said, referencing his predecessor who was able to confirm three conservative justices to the 6-3 conservative court that struck down Roe.
‘Donald Trump is betting you won’t vote on this issue. But guess what? He’s betting we won’t hold him responsible either,’ Biden said.
‘He’s betting you’ll stop caring. That you’ll get distracted, discouraged, that you’ll stay home.’
‘Guess what? I’m betting he’s wrong,’ Biden said.
‘The reason women are being forced to travel across state lines for health care Is Donald Trump,’ Biden said.
Activist group Code Pink took credit for orchestrating the protests but DailyMail.com was not able to verify the claim Tuesday night.
Biden wasn’t even on the ballot in the first-in-the-nation contest in New Hampshire, after scrambling the party calendar to make South Carolina the first contest sanctioned by the Democratic Party.
But Tuesday’s event made clear that the campaign was still very much on his mind, as his campaign team packed an auditorium in Manassas, filled a stage with mostly young women voters, and set up a huge ‘RESTORE ROE’ banner to mark the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
‘Across our nation, women are suffering,’ said Vice President Kamala Harris at the event. ‘And let us be very clear about who is responsible. Former President Trump hand -picked three Supreme Court justices because he intended for them to overturn roe. He intended for them to take your freedoms. He is the architect of this health care crisis. And he is not done. And the extremists are not done.
Persistent fractures were also on display outside the event, where protesters jeered at ‘Genocide Joe’ as the president’s motorcade rolled in, and several people poured pink fake blood into the snow.
The protesters tried to seize the spotlight at an event that featured the president, the first lady, the vice president, and the second gentleman
President Joe Biden, right, and first lady Jill Biden flew to northern Virginia to hold a rally on the push to restore abortion rights after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade
First gentleman Doug Emhoff and first lady Jill Biden each spoke at the event, with Emhoff describing the time his wife told him the news Roe had been overturned.
‘We were both outraged and we knew we had to turn that anger into action,’ he said.
‘Do we all still feel that outrage today? I know I do,’ he said.
‘They’re not going to stop. What they’re doing is immoral. What they’re doing is wrong. We all need to stand up for the dignity and freedom of all Americans,’ said Emhoff, a day after Harris kicked off her ‘reproductive freedoms tour’ with a speech in Wisconsin.
‘Everything’s on the line. Our rights are on the line. Our future’s on the line,’ said Emhoff, after saying ‘Donald Trump … And the extreme MAGA Rs have created this new reality where families are living in fear and doctors are worried about helping patients.’
Amid polls showing low public approval ratings for Biden and lower enthusiasm for him among Democrats than Trump enjoys with Republicans, the Virginia crowd cheered for ‘Four more years!’
In her own remarks, Jill Biden retold a story about visiting and sheltering a friend who got an abortion after her friend got pregnant in high school. She said the friend was asked to get a psychiatric evaluation before a Pennsylvania doctor would perform the procedure.
She said she asked her mother, ‘Can she come stay with us? My mom didn’t hesitate. Of course she can. And my mom never told a soul. In fact we never spoke about it again. Secrecy, shame, silence, danger even death – that’s what defined that time for so many women. And because of Dobbs that’s where we’re finding ourselves back again.
‘We will not let the extreme MAGA Republicans win this fight, will we?’ she asked the crowd of several hundred, who responded with a ‘No!’