White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki believes she is responsible for keeping the briefing room from being consumed with propaganda.
“I also have a responsibility not to allow the briefing room to become a forum for propaganda or a forum for pushing forward falsehoods or inaccurate information,” Psaki told CNN’s Brian Stelter on Sunday.
She added, “My best preparation from that was actually serving as the State Department spokesperson when there were representatives of the Russian and the Chinese media in the briefing room asking me questions that were directed by their government.”
Psaki also said she has a “responsibility to the public” to make sure they are receiving accurate information and the “premises of questions that are propaganda pushing are not giving them inaccurate information.”
Watch her comments below:
When asked by @brianstelter why President Biden hasn’t held more than one formal press conference, White House Press Sec. Jen Psaki says “he takes questions several times a week.” https://t.co/bttmLjiHOk pic.twitter.com/2ODlTR7WI8
— Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) June 6, 2021
The press secretary also discussed the relationship President Joe Biden has with the press. Stelter asked Psaki why Biden has not held more than one press conference.
Citing a statistic, Psaki explained, “In the first 100 days of this president’s presidency, he took questions from the press 77 days. I don’t know how that compares historically but he takes questions several times a week is almost always open to have that engagement with reporters. I expect that will continue to be the case.”
Stelter pressed Psaki on whether the administration’s strategy is “an attempt to lower the temperature, be less visible, be boring.”
She responded, “Certainly not. I don’t think anything we’re doing around here is boring, getting the pandemic under control, going on our first foreign trip, putting millions of Americans back to work. I don’t know what version of that is boring.”
Psaki suggested questions raised about a formal press conference could be coming more from the media than the American public.
Biden held his first press conference on March 25, during which he touched on a wide range of tops, including COVID-19 vaccinations, infrastructure, immigration, and more.