White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during Friday’s press briefing that it was not “constructive” for President Joe Biden to visit the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico.
Psaki made the remarks in response to a question from Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy, who first asked about the latest developments involving Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“First, the president has said and you have tweeted that allegations of wrongdoing based on files pulled from Hunter Biden’s laptop are Russian disinformation,” Doocy noted. “There is a new book by a Politico reporter that finds some of the files on there are genuine. Is the White House still going with ‘Russian disinformation’?”
“I think it’s broadly known and widely known, Peter, that there was a broad range of Russian disinformation back in 2020,” Psaki said, not answering the question.
Doocy then transitioned into talking about the border, asking, “Why hasn’t President Biden ever visited the southern border?”
“What would you like him to do at the southern border?” Psaki asked. “And what impact do you think that would have on the policies?”
“Why doesn’t he want to go?” Doocy asked.
“I don’t think it’s an issue of wanting to go; I think it’s an issue of what’s most constructive to address what we see as a challenging situation at the border and a broken immigration system,” Psaki claimed. “And his view is: The most constructive role we can play is by helping to push immigration reform forward; helping reform the broken policies of the last several years; and listening to his team of advisors, who have been to the border multiple times, about what the path forward should look like.”
“So why is this the one crisis then that he thinks he can manage better from here without having seen it than going to the southern border and seeing it?” Doocy asked.
“I can assure you the president is well aware of what the challenges are in our broken immigration system, something he watched closely over the last four years,” she answered.
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TRANSCRIPT:
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS: Thank you, Jen. Two topics, really quick. First, the president has said and you have tweeted that allegations of wrongdoing based on files pulled from Hunter Biden’s laptop are Russian disinformation. There is a new book by a Politico reporter that finds some of the files on there are genuine. Is the White House still going with “Russian disinformation”?
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think it’s broadly known and widely known, Peter, that there was a broad range of Russian disinformation back in 2020.
DOOCY: Okay. Moving on to the border, following up on a question from earlier in the week: Why hasn’t President Biden ever visited the southern border?
PSAKI: What would you like him to do at the southern border? And what impact do you think that would have on the policies?
DOOCY: Why doesn’t he want to go?
PSAKI: I don’t think it’s an issue of wanting to go; I think it’s an issue of what’s most constructive to address what we see as a challenging situation at the border and a broken immigration system.
And his view is: The most constructive role we can play is by helping to push immigration reform forward; helping reform the broken policies of the last several years; and listening to his team of advisors, who have been to the border multiple times, about what the path forward should look like.
DOOCY: So why is this the one crisis then that he thinks he can manage better from here without having seen it than going to the southern border and seeing it?
PSAKI: I can assure you the president is well aware of what the challenges are in our broken immigration system, something he watched closely over the last four years.