WATCH: Psaki Reminds Fox’s Pete Doocy of That Whole Trump Suggesting People ‘Inject Poison Into Their Veins’ Thing
White House Presss Secretary Jen Psaki had to remind Fox News reporter Peter Doocy why it was that then-candidate and now-President Joe Biden said he didn’t trust then-President Donald Trump on Covid during the 2020 campaign.
At Wednesday’s White House daily briefing, Doocy tried to get Psaki to blame the president for some of the vaccine hesitancy that’s plaguing the country’s effort to end a plague.
After asking about the vacant permanent FDA commissioner position, Doocy said “As the president tries to reach unvaccinated Americans, has there been any thought given, looking back, to the possibility that he may have created some vaccine hesitancy when last year around this time, the previous administration was rushing to get a vaccine authorized, and the now-president said ‘I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump at this moment, and the American people can’t either?”
Biden made those remarks in September of last year.
“Well I think it’s safe to say he still doesn’t trust Donald Trump, so that hasn’t changed, but he does trust scientists, he does trust data experts, and he does trust the people leading the CDC, the FDA, which is the gold standard of approval for vaccines,” Psaki said, and noted that the president has credited the prior administration for “their role in moving the vaccine was forward.”
“Yes but at the time when Donald Trump was out there saying we’re going to have a vaccine in the next couple of weeks, the next couple of months, and Joe Biden is out on the campaign trail saying don’t trust Donald Trump, did that create any kind of vaccine hesitancy?” Doocy asked.
“Not that we’ve seen in the data,” Psaki said, then added “I would note that at the time, just for context, the former president was also suggesting people inject versions of poison into their veins to cure Covid. So I think that’s a relevant point.”
Trump made the suggestion that Psaki referenced during a Covid briefing last April.
“And Joe Biden, then vice president, was saying we’ve got to wait until something is fully authorized, and it’s still not,” Doocy said, misspeaking Biden’s position at the time.
“Well, the FDA works on the timeline of science,” Psaki said. “At the same time, we’ve also seen tens of millions of people’s lives saved who have gotten the vaccine. That data is clear across the country.”
Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock currently leads the FDA but faces some Democratic opposition to her potential nomination to the post.
Watch above via C-Span.
 
               
               
               
              