Reporter Presses Psaki on Why the White House Is Not Defending Maxine Waters

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is being asked why officials in the White House are not coming to the defense of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) as she faces Republican criticism over remarks she made about protesters getting “more confrontational.”

During a press briefing on Tuesday, PBS White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked Psaki, “Speaker Nancy Pelosi came to the defense of Rep. Waters. Rep. Waters, as you said, clarified, she said, ‘My actual words don’t matter.’ I wonder why the White House isn’t also coming to the defense of Rep. Waters, given that she is now facing an onslaught of attacks, especially by Republicans. I wonder why the White House isn’t saying, ‘We back what she said about being confrontational, she obviously wasn’t threatening violence.'”