WATCH LIVE: Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki Briefs White House Press Corps
President Joe Biden’s White House press secretary Jen Psaki is set to deliver her daily press briefing at 1:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, following a 12:15 press briefing of the White House Covid-19 response team.
Psaki has, thus far, presented a much calmer and less combative demeanor than her predecessors under the Trump administration, but like everything else in a hyper divided partisan world, she is not without her critics.
Tuesday’s briefing is the first since a breathless Daily Beast report criticized the White House communications team for asking reporters what subjects they’d be asking during the press briefing.
“According to three sources with knowledge of the matter, as well as written communications reviewed by The Daily Beast, the new president’s communications staff have already on occasion probed reporters to see what questions they plan on asking new White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when called upon during briefings.”
But in the very same piece, The Daily Beast also notes that “this practice isn’t totally unheard-of in previous administrations, departments, or federal agencies,” adding:
For instance, former President Donald Trump’s White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was known to have asked certain news outlets about their questions in advance of some major or high-profile Trump press conferences or events, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. Communications staffers during the Bush and Obama years would ask reporters for the gist of questions in advance if they wanted to interview Cabinet secretaries.
It’s not clear if the Daily Beast wrote a similar report on Sanders asking certain news outlets their questions in advance of press events, and if not, why Jen Psaki and the Biden Administration are ostensibly being held to a different standard than the Trump administration.
Watch live above, via the White House.
