Psaki GRILLED by 5 Different Reporters: Why Doc Wasn’t Fired After Biden Promised to Fire Abusive Staffers ‘On the Spot’

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was grilled about President Joe Biden’s promise to fire abusive staffers “on the spot,” and why that fate had not been applied to science adviser Dr. Eric Lander.

Until his resignation Monday night, Dr. Lander was President Joe Biden’s Science Advisor and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Lander quit after an investigation found credible evidence he had treated colleagues “disrespectfully” on multiple occasions, particularly with women.

At a White House press briefing Monday — hours before Lander’s resignation — no fewer than 5 different reporters grilled Ms. Psaki about the fact that Lander had been counseled but had not been fired at that point.

And several of them referenced a promise that President Biden made when addressing White House staff on Inauguration Day: that “if you are ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect… talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot. On the spot. No ifs, and, or buts. Everybody… everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity.”

Associated Press correspondent Colleen Long led off the briefing by referencing that promise, telling Psaki “I wondered if he should have been reprimanded more strongly, given the President’s pledge on his first day in office to, you know, fire anybody who mistreated their employees.”

Psaki delivered a lengthy response that formed the basis for her next several replies, the guts of which were:

The President has been crystal clear with all of us about his high expectations of how he and his staff should be creating a respectful work environment.

And one of the steps we took early on in the administration was to institute a Safe and Respectful Workplace Policy across the Executive Office of the President — something that was done early on.

It was because of this policy and this process that when these — when the complaint was filed, a full and thorough investigation was conducted pursuant to that policy.

In addition, following the conclusion of the thorough investigation into these actions, senior White House officials conveyed directly to Dr. Lander that his behavior was inappropriate and the corrective actions that were needed, which were — which the White House will monitor for compliance moving forward.

Long pressed Psaki, noting “It looks like he’s had a history of, you know, possible mistreatment of his employees over a long period of time.”

Four other reporters quizzed Psaki along similar lines:

• “Does the fact that Dr. Lander has a job, still, cheapen the President’s promise to fire anyone who treats colleagues with disrespect on the spot?”
• “Again, the President, at the outset of this administration said, I will fire you on the spot.  On the spot.  No ifs, ands, or buts.’  So why is he not being fired?”
• “But are there ways in which he’s being held to account if he’s not being fired?”
• “…it doesn’t sound like a zero-tolerance policy if that’s the case.”
• “What is the White House’s message to people that work in this building and throughout the federal government that took the President at his word and don’t understand why Dr. Lander has not been fired?”

Psaki’s response each time was to reiterate variations on her original answer, although her final exchange on the subject came closest to a parseable answer (emphasis mine):

Q But he promised to fire people that did this, and he hasn’t fired the individual the White House found violated what he said. (Inaudible).

MS. PSAKI: I understand. And, again, let me just reiterate: Nothing about his behavior is acceptable to anyone here — at all. Quite the opposite. Let me be clear about that.

But there is now a process in place, that was not in place at the time, to evaluate and determine what the next step — the steps should be taken in the event that any behavior like this occurs to prevent it from happening in the future. That is exactly what happened in this case.

Q So, fellow federal employees shouldn’t expect that people will be fired if they treat colleagues with disrespect?

MS. PSAKI: Again, I think I’ve outlined very clearly what the process was.

Go ahead.

Q You’re just saying it’s legal — that it’s legal what you’re doing. Correct?

Q Two questions, Jen. Two questions for you. Excuse me. Two questions —

MS. PSAKI: It’s more than — it’s more than that. I think it’s clear that we are putting in place — we had put in place a process — an internal process — to ensure that there was a thorough investigation, that the — that it was evaluated, that steps were taken for this individual, Dr. Lander, to meet with senior officials to make clear that there were requirements that would be put in place and he was expected to comply with them to prevent this behavior from ever happening again.

Reading between the lines of Psaki’s responses, especially that last one, it seems President Biden may have overpromised on Inauguration Day, or at least promised too bluntly for the purposes of a fair and legitimate employment practice. Without saying as much, Psaki was attempting to paint the policy they implemented as in line with the spirit of the promise.

Following the resignation, Psaki said, in a statement, that “The President accepted Dr. Eric Lander’s resignation letter this evening with gratitude for his work at OSTP on the pandemic, the Cancer Moonshot, climate change, and other key priorities. He knows that Dr. Lander will continue to make important contributions to the scientific community in the years ahead.”

Asked whether Lander was forced to resigned, the White House referred Mediaite to Lander’s letter and Psaki’s statement. CNN reported that a “person familiar with the situation” said Biden did not ask Lander for his resignation — which does not preclude Lander being pushed to resign by someone else, maybe whose name rhymes with Klon Rain.

Watch above via NBC News.