Friday saw the end of an age with Jen Psaki (White House Press Secretary) leaving the Biden administration. She had been involved in over 200 editions. The Psaki ShowIt is filled with both humorous and intense moments. Psaki, who served as President Biden’s chief spin officer and lying propagandist during a series of crises, was simply effective. He has also spent much of his presidency in hiding from continued questioning.
Psaki was hired away by CNN It is set to take off to MSNBC and NBCUniversal’s streaming platform Peacock, which itself It has been doneWith respect to ethical issues.
Fox’s Peter DoocyPsaki became an instant household name for his many conversations on hot dogs, horses, inflation and sex education in schools. As we’ve coined it here at NewsBusters, Doocy Time was appointment viewing for the Fox correspondent’s uncanny ability to ask questions the liberal journalists around him weren’t asking and in a way that was brief, respectful, and tough.
Doocy wasn’t the only person who stood out during Psaki’s tenure. Psaki’s softball team included the usual suspects like Yamiche AlcindorAndrew Feinberg and April RyanDoocy often enlisted journalists to help him with tough questions. New York Post’s Steven Nelson, Real Clear Politics’s Philip WegmannFox’s former colleague Kristin FischerCurrent colleagues and me Jacqui Heinrich, Alexandria HoffEdward Lawrence (and his wife) Hillary Vaughn.
And yes, we even saw times when liberal network reporters like CBS’s Weijia JiangAnd Ed O’KeefeTested Psaki.
Below represents the 15 moments from Psaki’s tenure, presented in chronological order.
1. February 2, 2021 — Not Very Good: Snarky Psaki Mocks Space Force Question, Snaps at Reporters
Psaki showed her condescending side on this particular day when Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove wanted to know “whether the President has made a decision on keeping or keeping the scope of the Space Force?”
Psaki committed a faux pas when she mocked it as “the plane of today” topic, which dated back to the first briefing and a question about former President Trump’s plans to redesign Air Force One.
Wingrove hit back, noting it’s not just any question because “it’s an entire branch” of the military. Psaki then engaged in some cleanup.
2. February 8, 2021 — BOOM: Doocy Battles Psaki Over ‘Green Jobs,’ Not Deporting Illegals for Violent Crimes
The first of seven entries highlighted from our year-end Best of Doocy package, the Fox correspondent drew Psaki’s ire for asking “when” and “where” laid off fossil fuel workers could “go for their green jobs” once the administration fully implemented its green agenda.
3. February 24, 2021 — Peter Doocy Schools Jen Psaki: So If This Isn’t ‘Kids in Cages,’ Is It ‘Kids in Containers?’
The first #BidenBorderCrisis reared its head only a month into the President’s tenure with Psaki falsely claiming the housing of illegal immigrants was being done with respect and not in cages. It was, however, a fabrication as Doocy pointed out on that day.
4. March 10, 2021 — ‘It’s Not Funny’; FNC’s Doocy Fights WH Over Biden’s Immigration Crisis
With the administration still refusing to acknowledge reality, Doocy questioned whether they’ve preferred partnering with the teachers unions (to keep schools closed) over the angry and overtaxed Border Patrol and HHS unions. Psaki chuckled at his question, leading the affable Doocy’s face to turn red and show a brief moment of anger: “It’s not funny.”
5. March 17, 2021 — JEEZ: WH’s Psaki Gets Personal in Battle with Fox’s Kristin Fisher Over Biden’s Border Crisis
Fisher met with a variety of people before heading off to CNN. Fisher was concerned about the growing border crisis and wanted to know if there were any limits on how many illegal immigrant kids allowed to reside in the United States.
Psaki asked Fisher rudely to answer the question instead of answering it. “Should we send some kids who are 10 back at a certain point? Is that what you’re asking me?”
Fisher kept her cool, noting she’s “not setting the policy here.”
6. June 30, 2021 — Doocy Hangs Tough, Continues to Battle Psaki Over Her Defund the Police Lies
One of Psaki’s worst lies took place over the summer when she tried to claim Republicans (and not Democrats) are the party supporting the defunding of police because they wouldn’t support Biden’s COVID-19 stimulus package.
Doocy pressed her to name a Republican who opposed the boondoggle “because they wanted to defund the police” and when Psaki stuck to her falsehoods, Doocy hammered home the point by citing statements from lead Republicans and support for defunding the police from Democrats.
7. July 2, 2021 — Holiday Fireworks: Doocy, Psaki Square Off Over Defund the Police, Hot Dog Tweet
Early 2021 was already the time when inflation took control of the country. In response, the White House issued one of the most absurd tweets you will ever see. It boasted that Fourth of July meals would now cost less than they had previously.
Doocy noticed the blowback and he took the uproar straight to Psaki, including the tweet’s thesis that celebrated a 16-cent drop an average cookout’s cost.
8. August 31, 2021 — Psaki Runs into Buzzsaw of WH Reporters After Biden Cuts and Runs After Speech
The collapse of Afghanistan served as a rare moment in which Psaki found out what it was like to be a Republican press secretary on a daily basis with a barrage of hard-hitting questions about the Biden administration’s failed pull-out that, in the end, costs 13 American lives and left dozens more injured.
On this particular day, ABC’s Stephanie Ramos asked whether the White House was “placing blame on Americans who could not get to the airport in time” How? “confident is the administration that Afghanistan isn’t already a safe haven for terrorists.”
To show how bad things were, American tax dollars were, for a few seconds, well spent as NPR’s Franco Ordoñez questioned whether “really fair…for [Biden]To say that [people] didn’t leave” Afghanistan “when they had the chance” given the fact that the situation on the ground wasn’t “safe and organized.”
9. September 8, 2021 — Doocy Throws Down With Psaki Over Leaving Americans Behind in Afghanistan
By this point, reporters had admirably been on Psaki’s case for weeks about Americans left behind in Afghanistan and this briefing was no exception with Doocy calling out the administration’s rhetorical shoulder shrugging as to what help they could provide.
Doocy also had this stinging, big picture question his colleagues wouldn’t ask: “There are now more terrorists wanted by the FBI in the new Afghan government than there are women. Does the President think that is a foreign policy success?”
10. September 22, 2021 — Thank Goodness: Doocy Stumps Psaki on the Border While Ryan Makes a Scene
In the latter part of the summer/early autumn, the #BidenBorderCrisis hit a new peak with nearly apocalyptic scenes at the border. Doocy was not interested in knowing if Biden had ever been to the border.
It led to this remarkable exchange (click “expand”):
DOOCY: One more. Is President Biden known to have ever visited the southern border.
PSAKI: Where is he now?
DOOCY: Yes.
PSAKI: I will have to get — look back in my history books and check the times —
DOOCY: We —
PSAKI: — he’s been to the Southern border.
DOOCY: — we have been looking all morning and we cannot find any record of him visiting the border as President, Vice President, senator, or even as a concerned citizen. Is that possible?
PSAKI: You can see the date and time he was last seen.
DOOCY: Did — did —
PSAKI: But —
DOOCY: — did —
PSAKI: — tell me more about why you’re asking.
DOOCY: This is because he makes it clear that when disasters strike the country, like wildfires or hurricanes, he should go to the communities and get a firsthand view of their needs so that a policy can be made. Is that not what he should be doing? He should go to Del Rio in Texas and check out what is going on.
PSAKI, Well, Peter, the president relies heavily on his past experience to understand the current situation at the border. PSAKI: Whether it was his work in the Senate to tackle root causes of immigration reform or his efforts to work towards bipartisan legislation, something that we strongly believe should be today. The President uses his experience to help him govern and approach challenges. His experiences as Vice President and Senate presidents have shaped his views on issues.
11. December 6, 2021 — New York Post Reporter Draws Psaki’s Ire Over Daring to Ask About Hunter’s Laptop
Like Doocy Nelson, Nelson was fond of asking substantive questions about everything, from China to Hunter Biden and marijuana.
Nelson brought Hunter questions, coinciding the release of his colleague (and), to the room. Winner of the MRC Bulldog Award) Miranda Devine’s book The Laptop from Hell. As we wrote at the time, his questions about Hunter divesting from a Chinese investment fund, whether Hunter’s infamous laptop was real “and not Russian disinformation as you seemed to suggest,” but Psaki was disgusted with the topics.
Psaki even trashed Devine, saying she had “neither had the time nor interest in exploring or reading the book.”
12. February 11, 2022 — Jacqui Swagger: FNC’s Heinrich Battles Psaki, Sullivan Over Russian Invasion
Stepping up into a more consistent role in briefings, Heinrich dropped what Cable News Watch on Twitter has often called the Jaq Hammer in pressing Psaki on why Biden snapped at her and said debate over sanctioning Russia over what would become a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine was “stupid.”
Heinrich also called out what would become a failure of the world to stop the war, inquiring with Psaki about whether the administration would view it as “a black mark.”
13. February 21, 2022 — Friday Spice: Heinrich Draws Psaki’s Ire Over Probing Question About Russian Sanctions
Just days before Russian dictator Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade a sovereign Ukraine, Heinrich attempted to give the White House a gut check by wondering whether Team Biden’s strategy was “working.”
Psaki naturally said they were having success in standing up to Putin, so Heinrich stated things plainly: “You’re waiting for people to die before implementing them in that case.” Psaki was not amused, calling that “in no way a fair statement or accusation, I guess, if that’s what that is.”
14. March 9, 2022 — News Team, Assemble! Doocy, Lawrence Heat Gas Prices and Inflation
Lawrence was a great role model in the briefing. He forced Psaki into defending the fact that gasoline prices have risen every month since Biden became president. Given inflation and the conflict in Ukraine, it is difficult to see how the Administration can insist on Americans moving away from petrol-powered vehicles.
Doocy was mentioned later. He noted the shift in tone regarding who/what is to blame for inflation, shifting from COVID-19 towards Putin.
15. April 3, 2022 — Kaboom: Doocy Asks Psaki If the WH Supports Kindergartners Learning Sex Ed
Nine days ago, Doocy put Psaki in the position of defending this newfound world of allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports as a way of “protect[ing] the dignity and identity of all Americans.”
Doocy also brought up Florida’s parental rights bill forbidding the teaching of topics concerning sex through the third grade and if the White House had a view on when it was appropriate for young children to be taught explicit material.
Psaki didn’t hesitate to lash out and show the administration’s support for such a heinous worldview, arguing those opposed to teaching sex to children in early elementary school are “propagating misinformed, hateful policies.”
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