According to Politico, after months of being kept in the dark about the severity of the baby formula shortage, President Joe Biden “erupted.”
Even though Abbott Nutrition issued recalls of its goods and subsequently shut down its factory in Michigan back in February, Biden said he wasn’t aware of the severity of the baby formula shortage until “around April.” Before bringing Biden into the conversation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later said that the administration was taking steps to assist with the situation, which prompted a slew of questions about the timeline, when the president is informed of problems, and so on.
According to Politico, which cited a White House aide and a Democrat with knowledge of the conversation, Biden’s outrage was fueled by the incident.
“Biden expressed his dissatisfaction in a series of phone calls to allies, his frustrations provoked by gut-wrenching cable news footage of young moms weeping in fear they would not be able to feed their children. ‘ Biden didn’t want people to think he was being sluggish because the issue concerned the working class individuals with whom he identifies,’” according to Politico.
Some personnel were reportedly concerned when Biden openly acknowledged he was not informed of the crisis until April. Within the White House, there was a worry that Biden would portray himself as being “out of touch,” according to Politico.
The president is often out of the loop on certain issues. “It’s not uncommon for the president to be unaware of certain things,” said Jean–Pierre.
“This is a very frequent practice; this is how you move – nothing unusual about it,” she stated June 1.
The drama surrounding the baby formula crisis, and how the administration is dealing with it, is just the latest chapter in what many claim is a larger pattern of disfunction within the White House.
The president’s baby formula meeting, where he subsequently revealed when he was first made aware of the severity of the situation, highlighted that the White House was too slow to realize that the plant’s closure was a problem, according to an analysis published June 3 by The Los Angeles Times.
It also highlighted, the newspaper reported, “persistent queries regarding how such a seasoned team has mishandled significant difficulties.”
