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IrelandWhat the Biden White House said during the 2023 flight halt
USA TODAY's archival briefing clip draws an unusually large audience as another nationwide ground stop renews questions about aviation systems.
USA TODAY
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 839,721 views a day, 42 times a normal first day on this channel (20,181).
How the last FAA ground stop in 2023 was responded to by the Biden White House
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Things we can learn from the video
Press to jump
- 0:20Jean-Pierre says the NOTAM outage prompted a roughly 90-minute ground stop.
- 1:32She distinguishes finding no evidence of a cyberattack from completing the investigation.
- 2:34Technical questions go to the Department of Transportation; an after-action review is planned.
- 3:32Asked about modernization, she cites continuous NOTAM updates and the FAA authorization review due that year.
- 5:44Jean-Pierre confirms Biden was informed before the ground stop.
Karine Jean-Pierre faces questions that sound familiar again: what failed, could it have been a cyberattack, and when was the president told?
USA TODAY has posted footage from the January 11, 2023, White House briefing, bringing an earlier aviation shutdown back into view after Friday's nationwide ground stop. The upload drew roughly 837,000 views in its first day, more than forty times the channel's usual start for regular videos.
This is archival footage, not the White House's response to the 2026 disruption. Speaking as President Joe Biden's press secretary, Jean-Pierre explains that the earlier outage affected NOTAM, the system that provides pilots with essential flight notices. The FAA halted departures as a safety precaution.
"We do not have evidence that this outage was caused by a cyber attack," she says. When a reporter presses her on whether that possibility has been completely ruled out, she keeps the distinction clear: there is no evidence of one, but the investigation remains open.
Reporters also ask about database or server updates, backup systems and the need to modernize transportation infrastructure. Jean-Pierre directs technical questions to the Department of Transportation and points to an after-action review.
The clip's final exchange concerns the notification timeline. Asked whether Biden knew before the ground stop was ordered, Jean-Pierre answers: "He was told before."
American political adviser and spokesperson who served as White House press secretary from 2022 to 2025, including during the 2023 aviation shutdown.
More on Wikipedia ›The Federal Aviation Administration is the U.S. agency responsible for regulating civil aviation. Part of the Department of Transportation, it oversees air traffic control and sets airport standards.
More on Wikipedia ›A department of the U.S. federal government led by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president and serves in the Cabinet.
More on Wikipedia ›Published on Trari
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- Channel
- USA TODAY
- Subscribers
- 7,610,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 9,304,539
- Channel views, pace per day
- 3,586,272 (on a normal day: 1,333,593)
- Video published
- November 14, 2026
- Video views so far
- 836,543 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 839,721
The numbers
The archival briefing drew a much larger first-day audience than USA TODAY's usual regular upload. Its comment section was also several times busier than usual.
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