Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pulled out of a planned appearance Wednesday on The View ‘out of respect for striking writers,’ the White House said. 

Her cancellation comes as President Joe Biden and the White House have been peppered with questions over a WhatsApp message that gave the appearance the president was involved in son Hunter’s overseas business deals. 

An IRS whistleblower turned a 2017 message over to House Republicans in which Hunter told a Chinese business associate that he was ‘sitting with his father,’ adding, ‘and we would like to know why the commitment made was not fulfilled.’

The president twice denied Wednesday being involved in his son’s Chinese shakedown, after denying for years he had coordinated with Hunter while the first son was striking deals with Chinese and Ukrainian associates.

‘Out of respect for striking writers, we pulled down our scheduled appearance on The View,’ a White House official told Deadline, excusing Jean-Pierre’s absence.

‘President Biden and his entire administration sincerely hope that the writers’ strike gets resolved – and writers are given the fair deal they deserve – as soon as possible,’ the statement said. 

The View employs some writers who are represented by the union WGAE East. 

The strike started in early May. 

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Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall – who is reprising her role of Samantha Jones in the spin-off, And Just Like That – was the talk show’s featured guest Wednesday.

Jean-Pierre had less facetime with the American public this week due to her deputy, Olivia Dalton, making her White House briefing room debut Tuesday and then traveling with the president to Chicago Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Dalton pushed back on assertions that Hunter was complicating life for both the president and White House staff. 

Last Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that the U.S. Attorney from Delaware and Hunter had struck a plea deal with the first son pleaded guilty of tax crimes and likely serving probation for a gun charge. 

Two days later Hunter attended the White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, later traveling to Camp David with his son Beau and the president for the weekend. 

At the same time, House Republicans have been pushing out WhatsApp messages pertaining to Hunter’s business deals with China. 

‘Every president of the United States has invited their family to a state dinner. This president also has a family. He is no different. And beyond that, I’m just not going to engage on this,’ Dalton said Tuesday.

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich pointed to comments made by former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, now with MSNBC, who said the optics of Hunter being at the dinner were ‘absolutely not’ good. 

Dalton still didn’t bite. 

‘Like every other administration, like every other president, this president has a family, and he did exactly what many prior administrations have done. And beyond that, I really don’t have any comment on this,’ she said. 

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk