New York Post White House reporter Steven Nelson baffled NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby when he asked if President Joe Biden's recent Covid bout was a result of intentional action by Saudi Arabia.
The week after testing positive for Covid, Biden made an appearance in the Rose Garden, highlighting his recovery from disease and lauding the vaccinations and medicines that helped.
And in the week he was ill, media interest in the topic was massive, so much so that it seemed as if every aspect of the subject was discussed.
However, at Wednesday's (28 July) White House press briefing, Nelson exploited another aspect many didn't seem coming.
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He asked Kirby — who joined White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to assist with the Russia prisoner-swap insight— if the US considered the possibility that "the Saudi government may have deliberately exposed the President to the coronavirus."
Stunned, Nelson said that the question was out of his "scope" and that he should refer to Jean-Pierre to answer the question about Biden's medical condition.
He also noted that he was unaware of where the idea came from and what caused Nelson to frame the question that way.
"The idea that a foreign nation-state would — would deliberately try to infect the President of the United States with a virus is just ludicrous — just absolutely ludicrous," Kirby said.
He added: "There's nothing to it. And it should be treated as the — as the ridiculous idea that — that it is."
This isn't the only time Nelson has perplexed officials in press briefings.
He's also asked then-Press Secretary Jen Psakito address whether or not Biden had plans to euthanise his dog, Major, after a reported "biting incident" of a White House staffer.
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