White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that laws designed to increase election integrity and security represent “the worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War.”
Psaki made the remarks when asked by a reporter at the White House press briefing about what the administration’s strategy was to combat efforts by Republican lawmakers around to secure elections.
“He’ll lay out the moral case for why denying the right to vote is a form of suppression and a form of silencing and how he will use, he will redouble his commitment to using every tool at his disposal to continue to fight to protect the fundamental rights of Americans to vote against the onslaught of voter suppression laws,” Psaki claimed, adding that Biden would highlight that the last election was certified after judges threw out multiple lawsuits.
“He’ll also decry efforts to strip the right to vote as authoritarian and anti-American and stand up against the notion that politicians should be allowed to choose their voters or to subvert our system by replacing independent election authorities with partisan ones,” Psaki claimed. “And he will highlight the work of the administration against this, the necessity of passing the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and how we need to work together with civil rights organizations to build as broad a turnout and voter education system to overcome the worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War.”
WATCH:
.@PressSec says the "onslaught of voter suppression laws" in red states are "the worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War." pic.twitter.com/k1wzq3GWjv
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 12, 2021
Psaki also faced numerous questions over the administration’s response to the pro-freedom protests happening in Cuba, which the administration blamed on the coronavirus pandemic.
The Daily Wire reported on Sunday:
Cubans took to the street in rarely seen demonstrations to protest the impoverished conditions of the island, their lack of freedom under the far-left Marxist regime, and did so while chanting “Liberty” and “Freedom” and waving an American flag.
Despite this, Julie Chung, Acting Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, said that the protests were centered around the coronavirus pandemic, a claim that sparked backlash.
“Peaceful protests are growing in #Cuba as the Cuban people exercise their right to peaceful assembly to express concern about rising COVID cases/deaths & medicine shortages,” Chung tweeted. “We commend the numerous efforts of the Cuban people mobilizing donations to help neighbors in need.”
Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Psaki during Monday’s press briefing about the matter, to which Psaki responded by claiming: “Well, I would say first, that the protests were just happening yesterday, we’re still assessing what is motivating and, of course, in driving all of the individuals who came to the streets, but we know that when we say exhaustion, the, the, um, the, uh, the manner by which the people of Cuba are governed, that can cover a range of issues, whether it’s economic suppression, media suppression, lack of access to health and medical supplies, including vaccines. There are a range of reasons and voices we’re hearing from people on the ground who are protesting.”
“So, when these protesters are yelling ‘freedom’ and ‘enough’ there are people within the administration who think they’re saying freedom from rising COVID cases?” Doocy pressed.
“Again, I would say that when people are out there in the streets protesting and complaining about the lack of access to economic prosperity, to the medical supplies they need, to a life they deserve to live, that can take on a range of meanings,” Psaki claimed. “There’s a global pandemic right now. Most people in that country don’t have access to vaccines. That certainly is something we’d love to help with.”