Hours after Axios’s Sara Fischer Breaking news that White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki would be joining MSNBC, Psaki faced a slew of questions in Friday’s briefing about the ethics behind such a swift move and negotiating a job while still in government. CBS’s Ed O’Keefe broke the ice, but he was followed by future Psaki colleague Kristen Welker of NBC, who questioned whether she should be allowed to stay at her post.
O’Keefe stepped up after most of the briefing had been dominated by the March jobs report, gas prices, and Russia’s war against Ukraine: “[O]You should do a bit of housekeeping. Is it true that you are leaving the White House to work for MSNBC?”
Psaki tried to get away by quipping that “you can’t rid of me yet,” but that fell on deaf ears as she went onto say she couldn’t “confirm”Anything “about my length of public service or planned service or anything about consideration about next plans.”
Explaining that she’s “very happy to be standing with all of you here today” following a bout with COVID-19, her “focus everyday continues to be speaking on behalf of the President, answering your questions” and “hop[ing]” to “meet my own bar of treating everybody with fairness and being equitable.”
O’Keefe continued to press with an important follow-up: “[B]ecause this has been raised by our colleagues, but people who are observing this process, is it ethical for you to continue conducting this job while negotiating with a media outlet?”
Psaki insisted she’s “always gone over and above the stringent ethical and legal requirements…and I take that very seriously,” including the accepting of “ethics counseling.”
She claimed that reporters would give her a break if she stated that she “hope[s] that all of you…would,”Based upon her being a real person. “judge me for my record and how I treat all of you, both in the briefing room and otherwise and I try to answer questions from everybody across the board.”
Despite the soft talking, it didn’t cause the questions to stop. And most awkwardly, they came from a future colleague of Psaki’s in Welker.
Hilariously, Welker never acknowledged her own network as being Psaki’s future destination, only referring to it as “a media outlet” in her question about whether Psaki could still “be an effective briefer” (click “expand”):
WELKER : Jen, considering the multiple reports that have been confirmed by media outlets, how do you keep being an effective briefer even if you are actually planning to join a news outlet?
PSAKI (President of the Security and Knowledge Institute): I don’t have any plans or conversations to share. I promise that the first thing that I’ll do when I leave this White House is to sleep, and then spend quality time with my sons (6 and 6 years old), who are my biggest audiences. But I would say, Kristen, that again, I have done — have the ethics, legal requirements to the highest very seriously, and any discussions and any considerations about future employment just as any White House official would and I have taken steps beyond that to make sure there’s no conflicts.
As Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) correctly noted, it’s all but certain “[e]very reporter in that room knew that Psaki was negotiating with several networks,” so it’s worth pondering a question he raised: “They all just went on with the charade of asking and answering questions from a known future colleague.”
Charade or not, Welker pushed back on Psaki’s insistence about first taking time to sleep and have family time: “I understand what you’re saying, but I guess the question is: How is it ethical to have these conversations with media outlets while you continue to have a job standing behind that podium?”
Psaki largely restated her initial points about following the administration’s “stringent ethical and legal requirements,” so Welker closed with a question that’d be better suited for her bosses as, in all likelihood, she and Psaki will soon be yuking it up on-camera: “[I]s it the policy of this White House to allow staffers to have discussions even indirectly with institutions that impact and affect their jobs and your job here?”
As she’s done since January 2021, Psaki didn’t move off her talking points about White House policy requiring anyone considering outside employment to speak “with the White House counsel’s office and ensuring they abide by any ethics and legal requirements.”
“[T]hose are conversations that I have taken very seriously and abided by every component of,”Elle concluded.
To see the relevant transcript from March 1’s briefing (including questions about inflation from Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich), click “expand.”
White House Press Briefing [via CBSN]
April 1, 2022
Eastern, 3:06 p.m.ED O’KEEFE: Lots of urgent issues discussed here, but with the helicopter approaching, one little bit of housekeeping. Do you believe that your departure from the White House is to be a part of MSNBC?
JEN PSAKI (Ed): Ed, it’s not possible to get rid of me. There is nothing I can confirm regarding my time in public or planned service, or about the next steps. It was difficult to stand with everyone today, after what seemed like an interminable, unending period of time in my basement. I felt isolated from my family. Everyday, my main focus is to speak on behalf of President Obama, answer your questions however difficult or challenging they might be. I want to uphold my standard of fairness and equity in treating everyone.
O’KEEFE: And — and just because this has been raised by our colleagues, but people who are observing this process, is it ethical for you to continue conducting this job while negotiating with a media outlet?
PSAKI (President of the Senate): I am very serious about meeting the strict ethical and legal standards set by the Biden administration. PSAKI: I received ethics counseling as a standard procedure for any employee at the White House. I am compliant with the ethics rules and have gone above and beyond to take steps to be removed from all decisions when necessary. And so, I hope that all of you — I’ve been working with all of you some time, would judge me for my record and how I treat all of you, both in the briefing room and otherwise and I try to answer questions from everybody across the board. Although I am aware that not everyone is happy with me, I try my best to answer all your questions.
KRISTEN WELKER – Jen, what’s the follow up?
O’KEEFE: Thanks. I — [INAUDIBLE] — had to ask.
PSAKI: Okay. [TO WELKER] Go ahead.
WELKER [TO O’KEEFE]: Are you finished?
O’KEEFE: Yes.
WELKER: Follow-up
O’KEEFE: Go ahead, Kristen.
WELKER : Jen, considering the multiple reports that have been confirmed by media outlets, how do you keep being an effective briefer even if you are actually planning to join a news outlet?
PSAKI (President of the Security and Knowledge Institute): I don’t have any plans or conversations to share. I promise that the first thing I do when I leave this White House is to sleep, and then spend quality time with my sons (6 and 6 years old), who are my biggest audiences. But I would say, Kristen, that again, I have done — have the ethics, legal requirements to the highest very seriously, and any discussions and any considerations about future employment just as any White House official would and I have taken steps beyond that to make sure there’s no conflicts.
WELKER
PSAKI : Yes, this administration has a number of strict legal and ethical requirements. This is true for any industry that you work in. I adhered to them and attempted to exceed those.
WELKER
PSAKI – Well, the White House has the policy that any conversation regarding future employment should be conducted in consultation with its counsel. They also need to verify compliance with all ethics and legal regulations. These are conversations I take very seriously.
(….)
Eastern, 3:22 PM
JACQUI HEINRICH: Jen, a question on inflation.
PSAKI: Sure.
HEINRICH: Real quick. Today, the President blamed Putin’s invasion of Ukraine for not just higher gas prices, but higher food prices. Before the invasion, inflation was 7.4 percent. It rose to 7.9 percent in February. Vladimir Putin did not invade the country until March 24th. Therefore, the effect of the invasion will only be shown in March. The report on the incident doesn’t come out until April 12th. The timeline isn’t consistent so how can anyone believe that Vladimir Putin’s price increase for food prices has caused an upsurge in inflation?
PSAKI: Well, here’s what the President is reflecting on. Since Putin began to line up soldiers at the border, one is that the gas price has risen by around a dollar. The administration has not been able to confirm this fact, but outside economists know. We know that’s a huge impact and when you say inflation, people think the cost in their pocketbook and the impact on their budgets. The second piece on the availability of food, we know that different markets around the world are impacted by — by the lack of production in Ukraine and other because of the war and we know that that could impact global food prices.
HEINRICH: But it hasn’t happened yet. This is the first time we’ve heard the President blame Vladimir Putin for higher food prices.
PSAKI: I think what the President’s looking at is what the impact has been in a lot of areas that are leading to price increases on people’s pocketbooks and where we could see it increasing over the course of time. I’m here in my office. I’ll see you all. We are grateful to you all.
[REPORTERS SHOUTING]
SIMON ATEBA – Who will replace you?
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