Fox’s Heinrich Grills Psaki About Biden Saying ‘They Wouldn’t Let’ Him Visit Ukraine: Who’s They?
Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich quizzed White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about why President Joe Biden didn’t go to Ukraine during his recent visit to Europe.
Psaki took questions from Heinrich on Monday during her White House press briefing — many of which were focused around what the U.S. is doing to restore its diplomatic presence in Kyiv. Psaki couldn’t say when that would happen, stating it’s up to the State Department to assess the security of the situation, given the fact that Russia’s military assault against Ukraine continues.
Heinrich eventually switched gears to focus on Biden specifically
“Has the president asked to go to Ukraine?” Heinrich said.
“I’m not gonna get into private conversations,” Psaki said. “What I will tell you, we are currently not planning a trip by the President of the United States to Ukraine. What is most important to the Ukrainian leadership is that we’re expediting weapons and getting them the assistance and security systems they need. That is what our focus is on.”
Heinrich followed up by asking “Who decides if the president goes to Ukraine or not?” Psaki asked Heinrich to clarify, so the Fox correspondent referred back to the Warsaw conference Biden attended last month to address the humanitarian crisis from the war in Ukraine. It was during that trip when Biden said he would have liked to cross the Polish border into Ukraine, but “part of my disappointment is that I can’t see it firsthand like I have in other places. They will not let me — understandably, I guess — cross the border and take a look at what’s going on in Ukraine.”
Heinrich asked Psaki to explain who are “they,” but Psaki shut down the question, saying “I’m not gonna get into private considerations on that front.”
Despite not going to Ukraine, Biden met with U.S. troops stationed in Poland and warned of the geopolitical significance from the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been publicly applauded for making a surprise visit to Kyiv and touring the city alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Watch above.
