With rail strike looming, Biden says he has 'in a roundabout way engaged,' contradicting White Home press secretary
shut 
video
With rail strike looming, Biden says he has ‘in a roundabout way engaged’
President Biden answered a handful of questions on Thanksgiving Day on the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts.
President Biden contradicted White Home officers on Thursday, claiming to not have been instantly in contact with both aspect within the looming nationwide railroad strike.
Biden instructed reporters in Nantucket, Massachusetts, that negotiations between unions representing railroad staff and their employers have been ongoing. The president added because the talks have been ongoing, he himself had not engaged instantly with any of the events.
"My workforce has been in contact with all of the events, in rooms with the events," stated Biden. "I’ve in a roundabout way engaged but as a result of they're nonetheless speaking."
Biden's remarks contradict these of White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who stated earlier this week that Biden was "instantly concerned" within the negotiations.
ANOTHER RAIL UNION REJECTS DEAL, ESCALATING STRIKE THREAT AHEAD OF HOLIDAYS
President Biden, standing subsequent to Nantucket Fireplace Division Chief Michael Cranson, left, talks throughout a go to with firefighters on Thanksgiving Day on the Nantucket Fireplace Division in Nantucket, Massachusetts. (AP Picture/Susan Walsh / AP Newsroom)
“I’ve in a roundabout way engaged but as a result of they’re nonetheless speaking,” President Biden stated Thursday of negotiations between unions representing railroad staff and their employers. (Saul Younger/Knoxville Information Sentinel by way of AP, Pool / AP Newsroom)
"The president is certainly concerned instantly," stated Jean-Pierre. "I don't need to get into the main points at the moment, however he has been concerned. He stays centered on defending America's households."
WITH RAIL STRIKE LOOMING, WHITE HOUSE WON'T SAY HOW BIDEN IS 'DIRECTLY INVOLVED' IN NEGOTIATIONS
A White Home official instructed FOX Enterprise that the "president is concerned within the course of as Karine stated, however not the negotiations between the unions and firms themselves."
Earlier this week, the Worldwide Affiliation of Sheet Metallic, Air, Rail and Transportation Employees (SMART-TD) rejected a tentative settlement with the nation's main freight railroads. The union's choice has raised prospects of a nationwide railroad strike that would critically affect the economic system forward of the vacation season.
“The president is certainly concerned instantly,” White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated earlier this week concerning negotiations between unions representing railroad staff and their employers. (Oliver Contreras/Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
Administration officers have been scrambling to discover a compromise to avert the strike. A minimum of one union official concerned within the negotiations has recommended that Biden has been largely absent from negotiations.
Jean-Pierre dismissed such speak, nonetheless, throughout a White Home press convention on Tuesday.
Prospects are excessive of a nationwide railroad strike that would critically affect the economic system forward of the vacation season. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Occasions by way of Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
"That is the third time I'm saying he's been instantly concerned," Jean-Pierre stated. "You're speaking about one union president. There are 12. You're speaking about one."
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
"He has been instantly concerned," she stated when pressed by reporters. "I'm not going to get into extra particulars on that, however you're speaking about one president out of 12."