Kirby is once again leading the White House press conference, reducing exposure of Jean-Pierre, the most inept character ever to stand in front of a podium.
Kirby: The United States will not, and does not seek, and does not want, a crisis. We are prepared to manage what Beijing chooses to do.
Reporter: How many other al-Qaeda leaders or individuals do you access are presently living in Afghanistan?
Kirby: I'm not going to get into intelligence matters…the numbers aren't very large.
Reporter: You guys gave a while country to a bunch of people that are on the FBI Most Wanted list. What did you think was going to happen?
Kirby: I take issue with the issue that we gave a whole country to terrorist groups.
Reporter: They were harboring the world's number one terrorist, how is that not giving a country to a terrorist sympathizing group?
Kirby: The way you ask that, it makes it sound like we owned Afghanistan a year ago. It wasn't our country, It was an independent, sovereign state.
[we essentially did own/control Afghanistan]
Kirby: [Biden] respects the Speaker's decision to travel to Taiwan.
Reporter: Does [Biden] believe that the Speaker's trip is a net benefit to U.S. National Security interests, or not?
Kirby: [Biden] doesn't typically comment on congressional travel. He respects her decision to go.
Kirby has a 'high degree of confidence', based on visual evidence, and evidence collected by 'other means', that it was actually al-Zawahiri who was killed.
Reporter: How should we interpret [the] U.S. Navy parking warships to the east of Taiwan?
Kirby: As a former Naval Officer, I can assure you that we do not park warships anywhere, but we deploy them as appropriate.
Kirby: Releasing a million barrels a day [from Strategic Reserve]…that's nothing to sneeze at. That has actually helped to stabilize the oil market.
[no, it has not]
Jean-Pierre: More than 35 million Americans are enrolled in Affordable Care Act related coverage.
[approximately 10% of population]
Jean-Pierre: [Biden] has consistently said that he will now allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for terrorists.
[misspoke, or actual truth?]
Jean-Pierre: Federal law makes clear that doctors must provide women emergency medical care, including abortion services, to stabilize women facing health and life-threatening conditions. But under Idaho's near-total ban on abortion…pregnant women whose health and lives are in serious jeopardy may not receive the care they need under Idaho's abortion plan.
>But isn't that State Dept shit?
Should be. The Speaker of The House isn't the Secretary of State; there is no legitimate reason for Pelosi jetting around Asia.
Reporter: The most favorable interpretation from economists, including those that the White House has cited, is that the [Inflation Reduction Act] will help bring down inflation in the long-term, perhaps later this decade, but there is near universal agreement that this is going to do very little to actually bring down inflation in the near-term…when Americans would be looking for an inflation reduction act to actually address inflation.
Jean-Pierre: That is something we disagree with.