White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pressed about President Joe Biden looking at his watch during the dignified transfer of 13 U.S. service members’ bodies over the weekend.
Psaki was pressed after video emerged of the incident and subsequent backlash ensued from family members of the fallen U.S. troops.
“Was the President looking at his watch?” a reporter asked Psaki. “And does he have a message to those people who felt that they were offended?”
“I would say his message to all of the family members who were there, those who were not even in attendance, is that he is grateful to their sons and daughters, the sacrifice they made to the country, that he knows firsthand what it’s like to lose a child, and the fact that no one can tell you anything or say anything, or there’s no words that are going to fill that hole that is left by that,” Psaki responded. “He’s not going to speak to, and I’m not going to speak to the private conversations. Of course they have the right to convey whatever they would like.”
“But I will tell you from spending a lot of time with him over the past couple of days, that he was deeply impacted by these family members who he met just two days ago, that he talks about them frequently in meetings and the incredible service and sacrifice of their sons and daughters,” she claimed. “That is not going to change their suffering, but I wanted to convey that still.”
Psaki never answered the question about whether Biden was looking at his watch.
WATCH:
#BREAKING: Asked by Fox's @JacquiHeinrich, Jen Psaki refuses to deny or rebut the images and video of President Biden checking his watch during Sunday's dignified transfer of the 13 U.S. soldiers who died in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/PMgEzYM0r1
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 31, 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
REPORTER: One question on the dignified transfer, and then I want to get to Afghanistan. Some of the gold star families have criticized the president President’s conduct at the dignified transfer. There was a father of one Marine who said that the President appeared to be checking his watch every time a black draped transfer case came out of a plane, and a sister of another Marine said that it felt like a fake and scripted apology. Was the President looking at his watch? And does he have a message to those people who felt that they were offended?
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I would say his message to all of the family members who were there, those who were not even in attendance, is that he is grateful to their sons and daughters, the sacrifice they made to the country, that he knows firsthand what it’s like to lose a child, and the fact that no one can tell you anything or say anything, or there’s no words that are going to fill that hole that is left by that. He’s not going to speak to, and I’m not going to speak to the private conversations. Of course they have the right to convey whatever they would like. But I will tell you from spending a lot of time with him over the past couple of days, that he was deeply impacted by these family members who he met just two days ago, that he talks about them frequently in meetings and the incredible service and sacrifice of their sons and daughters. That is not going to change their suffering, but I wanted to convey that still.