White House National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby denigrated a group of veterans in what he intended to be an internal White House email on the 23-year anniversary of 9/11. The Biden-Harris official hit reply-all when sending his comments, including a Fox News reporter who had asked the White House to respond to the veteran group’s criticism of the Biden-Harris government’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
“Obviously no use in responding. A ‘handful’ of vets indeed and all of one stripe,” Kirby wrote late Wednesday on a White House communications team email chain. The flippant comment was in response to accusations leveled by Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) and several other veterans that Kirby provided “cover” for the deadly withdrawal during a Monday press conference. Kirby had blasted a new report the House of Representatives issued regarding the Biden-Harris government’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, claiming it “says little or nothing new.”
Viewed by many in the White House and media as the more steady hand in the press briefing room—compared to Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre—Kirby followed up his errant reply-all email, telling the reporter: “Clearly, I didn’t realize you were on the chain.”
Following Kirby’s condescending reply-all gaffe, the Biden-Harris White House communications team attempted to clean up the situation—issuing an on-the-record response from the official. “While I acknowledge not every veteran agrees with them, I stand by my comments in the briefing room. What was cherry-picked and selective was the report itself. And what’s most important is that America’s longest war is over and those still serving in uniform are better positioned to meet the threats we face today,” Kirby’s statement claims.
