White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki blamed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for President Joe Biden’s refusal to take questions yesterday while the two leaders were in the Oval Office.
The White House press pool filed a formal complaint against Biden yesterday after he refused to take questions from American reporters which came after Johnson took questions from British reporters.
CBS News reporter Ed O’Keefe asked Psaki what her understanding was about why “the British Prime Minister in the American Oval Office called on British reporter, and then when American reporters tried to call on the American president, we were escorted out.”
Psaki responded, “Well, I think in that circumstance, and I think our relationship with the United Kingdom and with Prime Minister Johnson is so strong and abiding we will be able to move forward beyond this but he called on individuals from his press corps without alerting us to that intention in advance.”
WATCH:
Jen Psaki blames Boris Johnson for Joe Biden refusing to take questions yesterday.
Good to know Biden requires prep to answer simple questions from American journalists. pic.twitter.com/W0Z5shgy0O
— America Rising (@AmericaRising) September 22, 2021
“[President] Biden and British PM [Boris Johnson] meet to discuss pandemic, trade and other issues,” O’Keefe tweeted yesterday. “Johnson took 3 questions. White House aides shouted down U.S. attempts to ask questions. I asked Biden about southern border and we couldn’t decipher what he said.”
White House Correspondents’ Association President Steven Portnoy said in a statement that he filed a formal complaint to Psaki over the incident.
“The entire editorial component of the U.S. pool went immediately into Jen Psaki’s office to register a formal complaint that no American reporters were recognized for questions in the president’s Oval Office and that wranglers loudly shouted over the president as he seemed to give an answer to Ed O’Keefe’s question about the situation at the Southern Border,” the statement said. “Biden’s answer could not be heard over the shouting.”
“Psaki was unaware that the incident had occurred, and suggested that she was not in a position to offer an immediate solution,” the statement continued.
“Worth noting that Biden ran for office promising to restore democracy after 4 years of Trump,” The Washington Post’s Ashley Parker responded. “But today it was the British leader, NOT the American one, who spotlighted a key tenet of a flourishing democracy — respect for a free press — by taking questions from his press corps.”
TRANSCRIPT:
ED O’KEEFE, CBS NEWS: And what is your understanding of what transpired in the Oval Office yesterday when we were all in there trying to hear from the President and the Prime Minister?
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Which aspects?
O’KEEFE: Well, the British Prime Minister in the American Oval Office called on British reporter, and then when American reporters tried to call on the American president, we were escorted out, let’s put it that way.
PSAKI: Well, I think in that circumstance, and I think our relationship with the United Kingdom and with Prime Minister Johnson is so strong and abiding we will be able to move forward beyond this but he called on individuals from his press corps without alerting us to that intention in advance.