Politico is questioning whether Biden officials have been truthful when they have claimed they have “been clear” about the administration’s policies.
In an article titled “The White House insists ‘We have been clear.’ Has it?” published Tuesday, the outlet slammed Biden officials, saying they have a “different definition of ‘clear’ than reporters.”
“We have been clear,” is the repeated phrase in question. It has been used by the president, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“But they often haven’t been clear — after all, why would the reporters be asking?” Politico writes.
Compiling a video of Biden officials’ remarks, the outlet writes that “spokespeople from the White House to the Pentagon to the State Department seem addicted to various versions of that phrase.”
Watch the video below:
Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin told Politico, “We have been clear’ is to a Biden spox what the phrase ‘fugetaboutit’ is to Lefty from Donnie Brasco. It’s a catchall for dodging legitimate questions about failed or failing policies.”
Politico lays out an example: “For example, the administration says it has been clear in conversations with Israel that Israel needs to limit civilian casualties, ‘but we actually have never taken steps to make that happen,'” citing Hala Rharrit, a former Arab-language spokesperson in the State Department.
“Saying ‘we have been clear’ is an attempt to be a show of force, pretending like we are doing something,” she said. “But in reality, it is just words.”
