‘Why are the doctors not in the briefing room?’ White House reporters seek clarity on CDC guidance

Jean-Pierre said that reporters had heard from President Biden on the medical matter, stating that he is a "trusted voice."

"When we got some updates from Dr. Walensky, that was a phone briefing. [It] provides information, but the public is eager to know more about what the Delta variant can do," the reporter argued.

"I would argue that we had the President of the United States speak to this yesterday," Jean-Pierre said. "He gave a more than 30-minute speech about where we are as a country. I mean, he is a trusted voice."

"He is the leader of our country," Jean-Pierre said

"No, but—" the reporter tried, before being interrupted by Jean-Pierre.

"We heard from him," Jean-Pierre said. "We heard from the President yesterday. We heard from the President about the Delta variant and vaccinations in general the day before yesterday, when he was in Pennsylvania, when he was supposed to talk about 'buy American', which he did, but he lead off talking about the vaccinations."

Jean-Pierre had, however, said on Thursday that "we listen to the scientists, we listen to the experts, this is a public health situation, this is not about politics at all, this is about saving lives, and this is what the president is all about."

"We have had our doctors on your networks, on many of the networks that are here, probably all of them, talking about the Delta variant all throughout these last couple days," Jean-Pierre said.

Jean-Pierre said that additionally there was a phone briefing done by Dr. Rachel Walensky, saying "we heard directly from Dr. Walensky herself."