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‘We’ll bring truth back to the briefing room’: Biden’s new White House press secretary Jen Psaki promises ‘transparency’ in her podium debut without mentioning her predecessor
- President Joe Biden’s new press secretary Jen Psaki promised to bring ‘transparency and truth’ back to the government
- At her first press briefing she told reporters that she respects the role they play
- It was a far cry from former President Donald Trump’s and his White House press secretaries’ war against the media, as he called them the ‘enemy of the people’
- Psaki spent around 30 minutes answering policy questions on Biden’s inaugural address, COVID-19, Congressional relations, Brazil, Iran and social issues
President Joe Biden‘s new press secretary Jen Psaki promised to bring ‘transparency and truth’ back to the government – and told reporters that she respects the role they play during her first press briefing.
‘I will just state because you gave me the opportunity I have deep respect for the role of a free and independent press in our democracy and for the role all of you play,’ Psaki said.
It was a far cry from former President Donald Trump‘s and his White House press secretaries’ war against the media, with Trump often calling reporters the ‘enemy of the people.’
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said her goal was to bring ‘transparency and truth’ back to the government and she told White House reporters she respected the role they played
Psaki briefed for the first time in the hours following the swearing-in of President Joe Biden on Wednesday
Psaki, who was a State Department spokesperson and a White House communications director during the Obama years, spent a little more than 30 minutes doing Q&A with the White House press corps, answering questions on Biden’s inaugural address, COVID-19, Congressional relations, Brazil, Iran, social issues – and even whether Biden will scrap Trump’s plan to repaint new Air Force Ones coming off the line.
Psaki admitted that she didn’t always know the answer.
‘I will venture to get an answer on that, maybe we can talk about it in here tomorrow,’ she told DailyMail.com on the Air Force One question.
On COVID, she could not say what per cent of students and teachers would need to be vaccinated for schools to reopen. She also said she didn’t know what level of confidence Biden had in FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee.
Psaki opened up the briefing telling reporters that she and the White House press corps may not always agree.
‘There will be times when we see things differently in this room, I mean among all of us, that’s OK. That’s part of our democracy and rebuilding trust with the American people will be central to our focus in the press office and the White House, every single day,’ Psaki said just hours after Biden took the oath of office.
She came back to the fact that she and the media might not always see eye to eye, when asked to define her own role.
‘As I noted earlier, there will be moments that we disagree and there will certainly be days we disagree for extensive parts of the briefing, even perhaps,’ Psaki said.
‘But we have a common goal, which is sharing accurate information with the American people,’ she continued.
She said Biden believes ‘he works for the American people.’
‘I work for him, so I also work for the American people.’
‘But his objective and his commitment is to bring transparency and truth back to government to share the truth even when it’s hard to hear,’ Psaki said. ‘And that’s something that I hope to deliver on in this role as well.’
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