White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney refused to answer questions about Chelsea Manning or an upcoming bisexual issues roundtable (Washington Blade file photo by Damien Salas).

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney refused to answer to questions on Monday regarding the treatment of U.S. Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning in prison or the administration’s upcoming closed-door session on bisexual issues.

Under questioning from the Washington Blade, Carney wouldn’t respond to an inquiry on whether President Obama would take into consideration the additional hardship Manning would face in prison for being transgender in deciding whether to grant her a presidential pardon.

“I’m not going to speculate about that, Chris,” Carney said.

Similarly, Carney refused to respond to a second question on why, as the Blade first reported, the White House intended to hold an off-the-record, closed-to-the-press session on bisexual issues on Sept. 23.

“You know, I just don’t have anything information for you on that,” Carney said.

At that point, Fox News’ Ed Henry interrupted with a question on the Keystone Pipeline, preventing the Blade from asking any follow-ups on Manning or the bisexual roundtable.

Last week, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Obama “would consider” a clemency petition for Manning “like any other application.” Earnest added he wouldn’t get ahead of the process.

That White House response was before Manning came out as trans.

According to NBC News, Manning won’t have access to hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery while being incarcerated at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

A partial transcript of the event follows:

Washington Blade: Two questions on some very different topics. First on Chelsea Manning, who came out as transgender after being sentenced to 35 years in prison, the Army prison to which she’s been assigned doesn’t provide hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery. Would the President weigh the hardship Chelsea Manning would face because of her gender identity as a factor in a decision to grant her a presidential pardon?

Carney: I’m not going to speculate about that, Chris.

Blade: Okay. And also, as I first reported earlier based on an invitation that was leaked to me, the White House is going to be holding a closed-door roundtable on bisexual issues on September 23rd. I just wanted to know what made the White House decide to hold this event and at that time?

Carney: You know, I just don’t have any information for you on that.