Reporters erupted in laughter when White White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was being grilled about the Cookie Monster, and a reporter punctuated the exchange with the perfect one-liner.

Earlier this week, President Biden’s White House and Cookie Monster had a lighthearted exchange on Twitter/X about u”Shrinkflation:

C is for consumers getting ripped off.

President Biden is calling on companies to put a stop to shrinkflation. https://t.co/4bkX8o3irI

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 4, 2024

At Tuesday’s  White House press briefing, Fox Business Network White House correspondent Ed Lawrence grilled Jean-Pierre about the Cookie Monster’s activism, drawing laughs from KJP.

An unidentified reporter then asked the question that cracked everyone up:

Q Thanks, Karine. So, Cookie Monster posted on X that shrinkflation is making his cookie smaller. The White House official Twit- — Twitter, or X, responded that — blaming shrinkflation, basically, on companies. So, does the President, again, believe that shrinkflation and inflation are solely a company problem? Or do his policies play any role in that?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, also, from my tweet, I believe we said, “C is for consumers getting ripped off.” Right? And — and the President — the President has called on — on companies to stop — to stop, you know, taking advantage of Americans. He’s been very clear about that.

He’s repeatedly called on large corporations, more specifically, to pass along their savings on to their customers. We’ve said that. We’ve been very consistent about that. And that includes rip-offs such as shrinkflation. We see that. And — where the size of a product, for those who don’t know, gets smaller, even as the price stays the same or increases. That’s what we’ve been seeing.

And so, it’s giving families less bang for their buck. And the President has said — and I’ll quote him — “Tired of being” — the President said, “Americans are tired of being played for suckers.”

And so, the President is going to have the Amer- — the American people’s back. That’s what he’s going to continue to do. He’s going to talk about this — not just shrinkflation but other ways that he sees corporations are ripping off Americans. You’re going to hear from him shortly about the — about the — what he’s doing next to — to deal with junk fees. And I think that’s really important.

That’s what Americans want to see. They want to see their president fighting on their behalf.

Q And out of that Competition Council, the President is announcing that strike force. Why did it take the Cookie Monster to speak up or an election year for this strike force to go? Why not do it year- — a couple years ago when inflation was 9 percent?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I don’t — I disagree with the premise of your question there. It did not take the Cookie Monster. If anything, it feels like the Cookie Monster is responding to us and what we’ve been saying about shrinkflation. (Laughs.)

I can’t believe I’m having a conversation about the Cookie Monster at the podium. (Laughter.) But that is where —

Q Does the President have full confidence —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: But that is — but that is —

Q — in the Cookie Monster? (Laughter.)

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: That’s a good one. I’m glad you’re awake. I’m glad you woke up for me. I know you were nodding off in the back earlier. But —

Q But why did it take — why did it take so long to announce a strike force —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, look —

Q — when inflation was 9 percent?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: — here’s — we’ll — here’s the thing. The President’s Competition Council has been going — going on for some time now. Right? He has taken this very seriously in finding ways to lower costs for the American people as we are obviously dealing with inflation — right? — obviously dealing with that because of what we are coming out of with the — with the pandemic.

So, the President has taken action. He’s going to continue to do that. I would say the strike force is just another way — along of many other announcement that this President has made — in dealing with large corporations ripping off Americans — right? — and dealing with how do we get rid of junk fees.

And so, that’s what you’re going to hear from the Amer- — from the President. So, to say that, you know, now, all of the sudden, he cares about this is not true. It is a false premise. It’s a false question, because the President has been dealing with this for some time now.

And now he’s making a new announcement on — on the strike force, and I think it’s important. And so, you’ll hear more from him momentarily.

Watch above via pool.

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