WATCH: Press Laughs as Jen Psaki Shoots Down Reporter Who Can’t Name Critics Saying Biden ‘Betraying Black Voters’

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki blew off a reporter who claimed that civil rights groups say President Joe Biden is “betraying Black voters,” but failed to identify which groups or individuals said this.

Reuters Correspondent Nandita Bose was the latest reporter to face a favorite Psaki tactic — wherein the press secretary demands a reporter identify an unnamed critic in an effort to head off amorphous “people are saying” questions — when Bose asked about the president’s efforts on voting rights:

BOSE: We’ve been kind of talking to a lot of voting rights and civil rights activists who are saying that the President isn’t just simply doing enough on the issue and is betraying Black voters who actually helped him — get him — get into the office by not doing absolutely everything he can. And he’s instead spending his time negotiating infrastructure with Republicans. How would you respond to that criticism?

MS. PSAKI: Who was saying that?

BOSE: A lot of civil rights activists and voting activists.

MS. PSAKI: Like who?

BOSE: We’ve spoken to several groups and outfits. I mean, I can reach out to you with names after the briefing. And —

MS. PSAKI: Sure. That sounds good.

And without missing a beat, Psaki moved on to the next questioner, drawing laughter from a press corps that has become familiar with this particular model of “PsakiBomb.”

The tactic of interrogating the identity of unnamed critics often leads to revealing information about the reporter’s question, such as the time “some Americans” turned out to be former President Donald Trump, or exposes a criticism that could be perceived as being made by a source who’s operating in bad faith, or may have been concocted by the reporter.

Bose told Politico that she did later submit a list to Psaki, but a review of Reuters’ reporting reveals what the problem with the question might have been. The outlet did indeed recently publish an article detailing criticism from activists and civil rights leaders like Black Voters Matter co-founders LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright, and Atlanta activist Shenita Binns.

Those criticisms amounted to a desire for the president to push harder for voting rights. President Biden has appointed Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the administration’s efforts on voting rights, but the painstaking wrangling with Republicans on infrastructure has dominated political media coverage for months.

“I am hoping that we will see the same kind of tenacity, commitment, and passion around protecting the civil rights of Black voters as we’ve seen with other policies,” Ms. Brown told Reuters, while Mr. Albright said, “There’s more that we think the White House could do, and that involves continuing to put pressure on folks like Manchin.”

Albright went on to say “When I say pressure, we don’t even care what it looks like. It could be the carrot or it could be the stick, it doesn’t just have to be pressure. It could be, ‘Look what does it take for this to be done with,’ to be honest.”

And Ms. Binns said that the president should lean on activists from “right here in Atlanta because we are the ones who have been on the ground fighting against voter suppression. … We are the ones who put Biden into office.”

Absent from Reuters’ reporting was any quote from an activist or leader saying that the president is “betraying Black voters.”

Watch above via The White House.