‘Fact-Check: True!’ CNN’s John King Concedes White House Point About Biden Critics Being Proven Wrong

CNN anchor John King gave an enthusiastic “Fact check: true!” to a White House spokesman’s point about the “dismal record” of predictions by President Joe Biden’s critics.

On Thursday morning, Deputy White House Press Secretary and Senior Communications Adviser for Strategic Response Andrew Bates emphasized how seriously the president takes the issue of classified documents, but pushed back on doomsaying political critics in a statement to Mediaite that expanded on comments Bates made to CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere.

“The President has been clear that he takes classified material very seriously, which is why he’s upholding the rule of law and keeping his promises to the American people by fully cooperating with DOJ and respecting their processes and independence. When it comes to political speculation, this can literally be averaged. Look back from shortly before the President launched his campaign to now. The accuracy rate of pundits’ negative predictions about him or his strategies is dismal. Our MO, by contrast, has aged well: tune out the noise, do the work, deliver; and remember that the President knows the American people and they know him,” Bates said, and added that the issue is not a factor in the president’s decision to announce his reelection effort.

On Thursday’s edition of CNN’s Inside Politics, King read a portion of the comments from Bates, and while he agreed with the sentiment, he and his panel still warned of political peril ahead:

OHN KING: Ansdrew Bates. The White House spokesman quoted in your piece, “Look back from shortly before the President launched his campaign to now. The accuracy rate of pundits’ negative predictions about him or his strategies is dismal.”

FactCheck: True! Fact check: true to that point.

The question is the special counsel investigation, classified materials. We’re in a different realm here. Do they get that? Isaac says they take the investigation seriously, but they seem to think not even… Let’s just hit the pause button instead of late March or early April, maybe May.

ASMA KHALID: I do think the point about this being D.C. noise. I kind of roll my eyes at a bit because that’s not entirely true. Right? Quinnipiac came out with polling, I believe, after the special counsel was appointed up to, through the weekend. I believe. It was a majority of the American public that they polled who thought that this was a serious issue.

I believe that they thought he did act inappropriately now. To be clear, a majority did not think that this is a criminal issue. Right. And there is a I think, a differentiation between how the public viewed what happened with Trump in classified documents at Mar a Lago. But I sort of dismiss the idea that it’s entirely DC noise, that doesn’t seem to pan out with what we’re seeing in polling.

TARINI PARTI: The potential problem here is that Joe Biden, for the last few years has positioned himself as the competent one, the one who would bring calm and, you know, forget the chaos of the Trump administration.

Does this special counsel and, you know, in case it snowballs into something bigger, does that sort of tarnish that brand that he’s been building? The, can Republicans make that argument that if you’re so competent, why were there also these classified documents?

So, you know, Democrats have said that there’s obviously a distinction between the Trump situation and his, which is obviously the case. But they have to sort of explain that. And when you’re over-explaining, is that an issue you want to be talking about at all? So I think there are still some in some danger zones, but for now, they feel like it’s going to be a sideshow, as they’ve put it to me.

JOHN KING: And one of the reasons I think politically they can feel confident, or at least not alarmed, might be a better way to put it, is because, because of the midterms, because of the policy successes from the Democratic perspective of the last two years, you did not see any serious Democrats poking around saying, I might challenge Joe Biden.

Watch above via CNN’s Inside Politics.