White House press secretary Jen Psaki was challenged by a reporter Tuesday after she refused to answer a question about President Joe Biden.
The New York Post’s Steven Nelson asked Psaki about a Vanity Fair report from December, which claimed a group of health experts briefed White House COVID-19 advisors and suggested they mass-distribute tests before the holidays to prevent a winter surge of COVID cases.
Psaki did not answer when asked which officials attended the meeting or if Biden was briefed about the concept beforehand.
“Which administration officials attended that Oct. 22 meeting?” Nelson asked. “For example, did Drs. [Anthony] Fauci and [Rochelle] Walensky participate, and was President Biden personally briefed at the time on that recommendation before it was passed over?”
Instead of directly answering the question, Psaki listed multiple actions that the president has facilitated in order to send out free tests.
“Well, maybe people haven’t asked about it because we’ve done a lot of what was discussed in that meeting that happened a couple of months ago, including massively changing our testing programs and capacity,” she said.
“The idea, though, was to mass-distribute tests to homes before Christmas and New Year’s. That idea was not adopted,” Nelson said, continuing to press Psaki. “How can President Biden shut down the virus if he’s not being briefed on these ideas? … Who were the advisers? And was President Biden briefed on this idea at the time?”
“I think I just answered your question, which you may not have been listening. Maybe you were waiting to read your next question, which is fine,” she snapped back.
“You didn’t, though,” he responded. “I’m finishing!” Psaki said before defecting the question again.
“Yes, I hear what you’re saying, but that’s not the question I asked,” Nelson continued. “The question I asked was, which advisers? And was President Biden briefed at the time?”.
“Again, I’ve answered your question,” Psaki said. “If you have another one, I’m happy to answer it. Otherwise I’m going to move on”.
