Jen Psaki Bristles When Grilled on Why Biden Doesn’t Push Back, Give Speech on Trump Election Lies
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki bristled at a reporter’s insistent questioning on why President Joe Biden doesn’t spend more time and attention on former President Donald Trump’s election lies.
At Friday’s daily briefing, The Washington Post‘s Annie Linskey pressed Psaki repeatedly on the subject of Trump’s campaign of lies about the 2020 election, which incited the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
Psaki appeared to take an immediate dislike for the question that did not improve when Linskey suggested a presidential address on Trump’s lies:
MS. LINSKEY: Former President Trump has been undermining the 2020 election result for most of this year; you know, he puts out statements, various releases. And I wonder why President Biden has not used his bully pulpit to push back on the misinformation coming from former President Trump, just given that democracy is such a top concern?
MS. PSAKI: Why does President Bid- — sorry, just so I understand your question: Why does President Biden not debate or lift up President Trump and his statements?
MS. LINSKEY: I don’t think that — no, I don’t think that’s what I was saying.
MS. PSAKI: Okay.
MS. LINSKEY: Why isn’t President Biden pushing back on the misinformation that the former President is putting out?
MS. PSAKI: Look, I think the President is doing what the American people elected him to do, which is to govern the country, to make people’s lives better, to solve COVID, to put people back to work, and, certainly, to fight for protections that will protect — save our democracy and — moving forward, not to continue the 2020 election. So that’s what he’s focused on.
MS. LINSKEY: But don’t you think it would be effective in some way to — you know, this is the most powerful possible podium that exists in the United States from a political leader. Therefore, has there have been any discussion of the President giving some kind of address to the country and speaking clearly about what did and did not happen, and clearing up misinformation? And particularly as democracy is very fragile, as —
MS. PSAKI: I think the President has spoken very clearly — and facts back this up — about the fact that the majority of the American people voted for Joe Biden to govern this country, that it went through dozens of courts who threw out attempts to change the outcome of the election.
But we’ve made an assessment, which hasn’t been the assessment made by everybody, that elevating and giving more fire to the conspiracy theory-laden arguments of the former President isn’t constructive nor is it what the American people elected him to do.
A few hours later, the president did mention Trump’s election lies during an appearance on The Tonight Show, but he did so in passing.
Watch above via C-Span.
