Psaki Addresses KJP ‘Stolen Election’ Tweets in Statement to Mediaite: ‘We All Agree’ on Outcome of These Elections

Tommy ChristopherMay 13th, 2022, 7:00 am
 

Karine Jean-Pierre Jen Psaki photo illustration

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended incoming White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre over resurfaced tweets about “stolen” elections in 2016 and 2018 in a statement to Mediaite, and addressed comments KJP made about Fox News while a guest on MSNBC.

It was one week ago that President Joe Biden‘s press shop announced that Jean-Pierre would succeed Psaki, a succession that will occur at the end of business today, Friday, May 13.

That announcement was accompanied by a raft of attacks from opponents — in addition to praise and celebration for the historic pick — and renewed scrutiny of KJP’s past statements.

In particular, a pair of tweets on the subject of “stolen” elections began recirculating.

In one 2016 tweet, Jean-Pierre wrote “Stolen emails, stolen drone, stolen election …..welcome to the world of #unpresidented Trump,” she tweeted in December 2016, a month after Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump,” as part of a quote-tweet chain referencing a Trump tweet about letting China keep a stolen drone.

“Reminder: Brian Kemp stole the gubernatorial election from Georgians and Stacey Abrams,” Jean-Pierre wrote in a 2020 tweet, a reference to Abrams’ allegations of voter suppression in that contest.

Of the Kemp tweet, Psaki told Mediaite “We all agree the 2018 election in Georgia is settled. And we’re also all concerned about voter suppression issues, including the President. Kemp won and she sees that tweet as having oversimplified the problem.”

Addressing the 2016 tweet, Psaki said that Jean-Pierre “has affirmed that Donald Trump won in 2016, too. Like so many of us, Karine was concerned about the U.S. intelligence community’s unanimous finding that Russia intervened to help Trump. But he won.”

“Just like four years later Joe Biden won the most votes of anyone in American history,” Psaki continued. “She’s aligned with the President that people should admit who won regardless of preference.”

It was Trump’s refusal to accept the results of that electoral landslide — which has been reaffirmed over and over by state officials from Trump’s own party — that incited the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Psaki also addressed comments that Jean-Pierre made on a March 15, 2020 broadcast of MSNBC’s AM Joy program, in which she name-checked Tucker Carlson and slammed the network as “racist” over the opinion hosts’ coverage of the coronavirus.

“This is a years-old clip of Karine, referring to an opinion host – not a reporter – when she was not in government and not speaking on behalf of the president,” Psaki told Mediaite.

“As she has shown at the White House many times already, including in the Briefing Room, she will continue to follow the guidance of the President in engaging with a range of reporters from a broad range of outlets, including Fox, even when there are different points of view,” Psaki pledged.

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