White House mocked over ‘Nordstrom’ pipeline gaffe

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mixed up the name of the Russian pipeline with a US luxury department store

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been mocked online for mistakenly calling the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which supplies Russian natural gas to the EU, the “Nordstrom,” a US department store.

“What we see Russia is doing, we’ve been very clear about this, they’re using energy, they’re weaponizing energy. One of the things that has been out there… they shut down the pipeline of Nordstrom 1,” Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on Tuesday. Her slipup did not go unnoticed among Twitter users.

“This was not a slip of the tongue. Biden gave it to Putin as a gift from Nordstrom’s,” one person tweeted. Another wrote: “What is this world coming to? Will the Chinese follow suit by shutting down Saks Fifth Avenue?” in reference to another department store.

“Well, I’m sure Putin is causing the price increases at Nordstrom’s too,” one commenter said, while another warned: “Russia is attacking Nordstrom. Look out Macy’s!”

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Though some called the press secretary “dumb” or “a disgrace,” most people simply found the gaffe amusing.

“Maybe Europe could just get their energy cheaper from Nordstrom Rack?” another user suggested, referring to Nordstrom’s off-price sister brand.

“Not sure what’s worse, that Karine Jean-Pierre just called it The NORDSTROM Pipeline, or that Biden yelled at his TV, ‘no dummy it’s Bloomingdales,’” Fox Radio host Jimmy Failla joked.

The ‘Nordstrom’ slipup is not the first for Jean-Pierre in her tenure as press secretary. Just last month, she came under fire for tweeting that there was 0% inflation in the US in July, while in reality the official figure was 8.5%.

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