White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki seemingly invoked the losses that President Joe Biden has experienced in his personal life when asked during a press conference on Monday about what the president’s response was to the news that several children and an aid worker were killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan targeting ISIS-K.
The Pentagon admitted last week that 10 people, including seven young children, were killed in the drone strike last month.
“Well, the President was briefed on Friday morning about the report that was going to be released and put out, I would say, first, the president’s view, and all of our view, is that the loss of any civilian life is a tragedy, as was, as was made clear in the comments by the Secretary of Defense by General McKenzie, this was done in error,” Psaki said. “And clearly, the investigation that will continue is something the president broadly supports.”
Psaki continued, “So, as a human being, as a president, as somebody who has overseen loss in a variety of scenarios, both as a leader and personally, it is his reaction is it’s a tragedy and every loss is a tragedy, and he supports the efforts to, the effort to move this forward as quickly as possible and to have a thorough investigation.”
Psaki’s remarks seemingly are a reference to Biden losing his daughter Naomi Christina Biden in 1972 in a car accident that also killed Biden’s wife. Biden later lost his oldest son, Joseph “Beau” R. Biden III in 2015 to brain cancer.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier responded to Psaki’s remarks by writing on social media that while it was “true” that Biden lost family members, “he didn’t experience loss at the hands of an American drone launching hellfire missiles at a target POTUS said was ISIS-K, but -in reality- was an aid worker & 7 children.”
“Understanding loss is one thing- but understanding loss you originally took credit for is another,” Baier added.
WATCH:
Psaki invokes Biden's dead son & daughter as proof he emphasizes w/the families of the Afghans that the U.S. government accidentally droned to death: "As a human being, as a President,. as somebody who has overseen loss…as a leader & personally, his reaction is it's a tragedy" pic.twitter.com/Co3N32s0yY
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 20, 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
ED O’KEEFE, CBS NEWS REPORTER: Following up on the drone strike last week that the Pentagon now admits was a tragic mistake. What was the President’s response when he learned about that?
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, the President was briefed on Friday morning about the report that was going to be released and put out, I would say, first, the president’s view, and all of our view, is that the loss of any civilian life is a tragedy, as was, as was made clear in the comments by the Secretary of Defense by General McKenzie, this was done in error. And clearly, the investigation that will continue is something the president broadly supports. So, as a human being, as a president, as somebody who has overseen loss in a variety of scenarios, both as a leader and personally, it is his reaction is it’s a tragedy and every loss is a tragedy, and he supports the efforts to, the effort to move this forward as quickly as possible and to have a thorough investigation.