New York Post Reporter Draws Psaki’s Ire Over Daring to Ask About Hunter’s Laptop

During Monday’s episode of The Psaki Show, New York Post reporter Steven Nelson made the most of his infrequent opportunities to question Press Secretary Jen Psaki by invoking news about Hunter Biden’s Chinese business dealings and Miranda Devine’s New book about Hunter’s laptop. Psaki refused to have anything to do with them both.

Nelson started by citing an and “big report”out of the Biden government concerning “corruption” As a method of asking “two quick and hopefully pretty easy questions about that” This ironically mentioned art sales as the main vehicle to money laundering.

For his first question, Nelson wanted to know if she’d “commit to basic transparency about…the name of the buyer, the dollar amount, and the timing” of Hunter Biden’s attorney announcing his client had “finally divested from a Chinese investment fund controlled by state-owned entities” only “shortly after President Biden’s virtual meeting with the Chinese president.”

Psaki, as expected, dismissed the importance of it since “the President’s son is not an employee of the federal government, so I’d point you to his representatives.”

The Devine book The Laptop From HellNelson stated that he “was hoping that you could confirm that the laptop is indeed authentic and not Russian disinformation as you seemed to suggest on Twitter last year.”

Psaki’s answer? Psaki was less interested than she thought: “And, as it relates to the book, I have neither had the time nor interest in exploring or reading the book.”

Nelson tried to continue the conversation, but Psaki insisted on going to the next reporter. She argued that she was already done. “answered your question” and reiterated he “can go to the representative of the person who’s not an employee of the federal government.”

In the meantime, briefings mainly focused on Russia and China in relation to the 2022 Winter Olympics. There were concerns that Russia could invade Ukraine.

Psaki had confirmed reports at the top of the briefing that the U.S. would be boycotting the Olympics, but only on a diplomatic basis, meaning athletes will still compete, but there won’t be a presence from the U.S. government (e.g. Psaki confirmed reports at the top of the briefing that the U.S. would be boycotting the Olympics, but only on a diplomatic basis. This means athletes will still compete, but there won’t be any presence from the United States government (e.g.).

CBS’s Nancy Cordes wanted to know whether the Biden team “consider[ed] going a step further in barring U.S. athletes” and why they didn’t go that route, but Psaki maintained this action was plenty stringent as it “sends a clear message that we cannot conduct ourselves with business as usual” amid China’s rampant human right abuses while also not penalizing athletes. 

ABC’s Cecilia Vega and Cordes both asked important questions about whether a Russian invasion could mean sending U.S. troops into the region (and thus possibly dragging the U.S. into a new war), but Psaki refused to give them an answer.

The strongest Russia questions from where one least expected it in NPR and correspondent Mara Liasson, who correctly called out the administration’s posture as similar to that of the Obama-Biden administration in 2014, whose actions did nothing to deter Vladimir Putin from sending his military in to seize Crimea (and render the eastern half of the country disputed territory) (click “expand”):

LIASSON: You mentioned that — that Biden was obviously deeply involved with the Ukraine in 2014. 

PSAKI: Yeah.

LIASSON: I’m wondering if you could talk about what his takeaways are from that experience because a lot of the things that he’s saying this time — supporting allies on the eastern flank, sanctions, those sound like those same things that you guys tried to do in 2014 and it didn’t stop Russia from taking Crimea. So, what’s — why does he think this will be different? 

PSAKI: Well, first, our objective at this point, Mara, of course, is to prevent them from moving forward —

LIASSON: Right.

PSAKI: — and to convey on the front end that we have been working in lockstep in coordination with congress, with countries, our NATO partners, with transatlantic partners, to prepare a arrange steps that could be detrimental to the economy. I would say that there are some — certainly things that we have watched and seen that we certainly saw back in 2014, a massive spike — more than tenfold — in social media activity pushing anti-Ukranian propaganda, approaching levels last seen in the lead up to Russia’s invasion in 2014. Although this is something new, there was no precedent. However, for us it indicates that efforts are being made to influence both inside and outside the country. We’ve also seen evidence, as we’ve noted here, of Russia making plans for significant, aggressive move against Ukraine. Our objective (or the President’s) is, in my opinion, to lead diplomatically, and have these discussions. We’re having them directly with Russian leaders. The secretary of state obviously met with his counterpart last week and we’re having those at a range of levels. The President’s speaking with President Putin tomorrow. To prepare for a variety of possibilities should the President and Putin decide to go ahead, 

LIASSON: But why do you — why will your efforts this time be more successful than last time? You think that they will.

PSAKI: We’ll we will see if they are. However, our primary objective is to stop the progress of military technology as we have seen in 2014.

With Peter Doocy having taken his turn last week on The Psaki Show, Monday saw his Fox colleague Jacqui Heinrich return to their spot with questions on crime and a much-lampooned tweet from a Kamala Harris official insisting he loves his job just as top officials are departing in droves (click “expand”): 

HEINRICH: On that violent crime spike that we’ve been seeing, there have been smash and grab robberies, there was the pretty alarming murder in the wealthy Hollywood neighborhood last week, and then an attack — a violent robbery in Pacific Palisdes on Friday. It is similar to what we witnessed over the summer. One of President Obama’s greatest pushes is to fix that. The DOJ strike teams were dispatched to five of these cities. D.C. (New York), Chicago, L.A., San Francisco, and Chicago. What have the strike forces achieved since they were formed in July?

(….)

HEINRICH The Washington Post article — there’s another article that’s come out after a string of articles detailing dysfunction in the Vice president’s office. Today, the Director of Operations tweeted about his love for his job. Similar social media efforts were made this summer in response to negative news stories about the vice president’s office. Is it true that the Vice President’s office had negative headlines? Did anyone ask for a positive tweet from the deputy director today? 

PSAKI: PSAKI is not aware of any request for positive tweets or specific tweets. While I could point you towards the office of the Vice-President, however I am able to work alongside a few people who are excited about continuing their careers in the office.

For the complete transcript (aswell as the briefing from December 6), visit a question from April Ryan about the Department of Homeland Security’s probe into border agents), click here.