During a podcast on Tuesday, Obama administration chief strategist David Axelrod and former Republican strategist Robert Gibbs accused press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre of giving “bullshit” answers when discussing a Parkinson's disease specialist who visited the White House for President Joe Biden.

On “Hacks on Tap,” Axelrod, co-host Mike Murphy, a media consultant, and guest Bill Kristol discussed the ongoing confusion within the Democratic Party over Biden remaining as a presidential candidate despite calls for him to step down. Axelrod began by raising concerns about the White House's lack of transparency regarding Biden. (RELATED: 'Hard work done in pursuit of democracy': Democratic state lawmakers call on Biden to step back from race issue)

“One of the concerns about him staying on is that he wants this campaign to be about Donald Trump and the threat that he represents,” Axelrod said. “If every day is a health report on the president, and every stumble, every stutter, every mistake is reported,[ed] “I know that the queue will dominate the discussion and we won't get to the main issues. Yesterday, this issue came up about a Parkinson's disease specialist who regularly visits the White House and the White House Medical Unit, but I don't have that tape.”

“Maybe I'm remiss in that regard, but the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, was at odds quite a bit with the White House press corps, who asked if this guy was meeting with the president and why he was there,” he continued. “This guy has been consulting with the White House medical office since 2012 and has been visiting the White House frequently for 12 years. There was a response to the question of what he was doing there, and she said, 'For security reasons and privacy reasons, I can't talk about that.' This was bullshit, and the reporters knew it was bullshit. They got upset, and it dragged on. So one of the things they need to do is get tough here.”

The New York Times reported that White House visitor logs circulated this week show that Dr. Kevin Canard, an expert on Parkinson's disease, visited the White House eight times between July 2023 and March 2024. When asked about the issue, Jean-Pierre denied reports that Biden was not receiving treatment for Parkinson's disease and had undergone three routine check-ups by a neurologist.

“Yeah, she's terrible,” Murphy said. “I mean, I would say she's terrible from day one. I'm sorry it's a tough job, but when they do things like this, this is kind of a Washington issue, I don't know if it's a public issue, but it starts to affect the debate. There's a cover-up here.”

Biden's poor debate performance raised concerns about his continued status as the party's nominee. Last week, Democratic lawmakers began calling for the president to resign, with New Jersey Rep. Mickey Sherrill, a Democrat, joining the list on Tuesday.