Jen Psaki Mocks Idea of Tension with Biden Comms Chief Kate Bedingfield: ‘We Fist Fight on the Plane’

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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki laughed off the idea that she has any sort of tense relationship with Biden Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, quipping to reporters that “(We) fist fight on the plane.”

Psaki and Bedingfield mocked the rumored tension while speaking to reporters before President Joe Biden’s speech at a Ford plant this week, according to Politico’s West Wing Playbook, apparently in response to the newsletter’s then-impending profile of said alleged tension:

“We were just talking about how we hate each other,” Psaki said drily with Bedingfield next to her on Tuesday, ahead of President JOE BIDEN’s address at a Ford plant outside Detroit. Knowing that West Wing Playbook was working on a profile of the two of them and that we admittedly are suckers for staff intrigue, Psaki added that she and Bedingfield “fist fight on the plane” and that there is “boiling drama.”

Yes, Bedingfield deadpanned, “boiling drama all the time.”

But that’s just what you’d expect boiling, fist-fighting tense rivals to say, isn’t it? All the more reason for Politico to cannily note that “There’s no outward sign of that,” because the signs must obviously be inward — a “Psaki Psucks” doodle on the inside cover of a Trapper-Keeper, an under-breath-muttered “Shut your Ellie Kemper-lookin’ face,” an alt account on Twitter salting the #PsakiBopmb hashtag with bitter insults.

Outwardly, Politico describes “quiet divisions” in the Biden press shop between the “Bedingfield people” and the “Psaki people” — two of the least intimidating things you could ever embroider on a jacket and wear to a rumble. Picture Bedingfield clinking empty beer bottles, deploying the singsong taunt “Psaki People… Come out and PLAA-AY!”

But Psaki told Politico WWPB that Bedingfield has kept a lid on the powder keg:

While there have been tensions inside the White House comms team — including some early behind-the-scenes jockeying to succeed Psaki — the divides haven’t descended into serious sniping. And aides credit that, in part, to Bedingfield and Psaki’s professional and personal relationship. “I think she was a validator for me within the Biden family,” Psaki said in an interview. “I could never be a person who had the same war wounds from the campaign. I didn’t, right … I could have been treated differently, and I would have understood it. I was ready for that. And that’s a reflection largely on her to set the tone with the team of people who worked for her on the campaign.”

Also key to keeping the peace, according to the newsletter, is Deputy White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates, who has worked for both Psaki and Bedingfield.

“I know, Bates can’t quit us,” Psaki told Politico. “We’re like his moms, his momma bears for life here.”

Some White House staffers sarcastically “confirmed” Bates’ role as the dam holding back the hellfire, including Bates:

???

— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) May 21, 2021

You can see it, right? The seething undercurrent of murderous 28 Days Later experimental chimpanzee rage?

A source familiar with the situation says that the interviews conducted for the piece gave no indication that tensions between teams was going to be a topic, so the premise seemed to come out of left field. There are more unicorns and leprechauns than tensions in the press shop, the source said, and pointed out that almost every spokesperson — save one — worked on the campaign, which would make forming factions difficult.

In between all the non-outward non-tension, though, is a detailed look at Bedingfield and Psaki going back to their days working at the DCCC as part of a ginger-haired trio known as the “Red Row” back in 2006. Here’s hoping the tension doesn’t boil over, and turn the “Red Row” into a West Wing version of the Red Wedding.