White House Cuts Off COVID-19 Response Coordinator When Asked If Schools Must Be Open In Fall

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appeared to cut off COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha on Thursday when he was asked by a reporter if all schools must be open this fall.

“Doctor, do you believe all schools will and must be open this coming fall?” a reporter asked.

Jha mumbled a few words before Jean-Pierre interjected, “You have to go. He has to go.”

“Sorry,” Jha said as he did not answer the question and quickly walked out of the room.

WATCH:

WOW – a reporter asks if the White House COVID coordinator believes all schools "will and must be open this fall"

And @PressSec prevents him from answering. pic.twitter.com/lTtcBeh0by

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) June 2, 2022

Fox News editor Cameron Cawthorne highlighted a clip from Jha late last year, before he was appointed by Democrat President Joe Biden, that showed Jha advocating for keeping schools open.

“What I’m hearing from school districts is there’s already questions about going remote,” he said during an interview on MSNBC in December. “I think it’s irresponsible at this point to do that.”

“We have all the tools to keep schools open and safe, vaccinations, testing, improvements in ventilation, tens of billions of dollars have gone to schools,” Jha continued. “And if I hear of a single school district that goes remote but keeps bars open, what that says to me is they don’t care about kids and they don’t care about COVID because bars spread COVID, schools generally don’t, not if you put in mitigation efforts, and I’m worried that city leaders are going to give up on kids and not do the right thing.”

This is what the WH COVID-19 coordinator said back in December before he was appointed by Biden. No wonder WH didn’t want him to answer. pic.twitter.com/7iqb71Hcrw

— Cameron Cawthorne (@Cam_Cawthorne) June 2, 2022