Former Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki Condemns Trump Admin Press Office

Former White House Press Secretary Jennifer R. Psaki, who served under former President Joe Biden, condemned the Trump administration’s press pool management during an Institute of Politics forum Monday night.

Psaki, now an MSNBC host, discussed the changing relationship between the press and federal government with Margaret Jane “Dee Dee” Myers, who served as press secretary under former President Bill Clinton. The conversation was moderated by Peter E. Baker, the chief White House correspondent to the New York Times.

“I think this is one of the most undercover and damaging things that Karoline Leavitt and the White House is doing,” Psaki said, referring to how the current White House Press Secretary has shaped the pool of reporters present at briefings. “The public has no idea what’s happening.”

Psaki and Meyers pointed to the recent eviction of reporters for news outlets including the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal from the White House briefing room.

“The press office is no longer the press office. It’s a propaganda office in the current administration,” Meyers said.

Psaki said removing experienced reporters from briefing rooms means that questions about particular meetings or diplomatic engagement go unanswered. She said the reporters who are left are often less committed to objectively conveying the political landscape — and instead may have a personal agenda and portray events in a certain light.

Leavitt’s approach starkly contrasts the way Psaki ran the press room under Biden. Though Psaki acknowledged occasionally feeling nervous when faced with difficult lines of questioning during briefings, she said she would “never” have closed off the press pool to certain reporters. And while Psaki’s team would not always share everything they knew with the press, they would never share information that was false, she added.

Psaki drew a comparison between the Trump administration’s treatment of the press and that of the Russian government, which has significant control over the media narrative. In particular, Psaki described how she saw Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and his foreign minister followed by “a bevy of state-run journalists,” who were directed on what to report.

“That seems to be the goal, and I think that should be more concerning for people,” she said.

Psaki also recounted disagreements she had with Biden. In one instance, Biden told Psaki that he would fire her if she said anything publicly about a meeting he was having with Putin. Still, Psaki added that she never felt that she was forced to put aside her own sense of ethics.

“There are times where there’s disagreements, right?” she said. “But I never felt I was put in an unethical, immoral, lying place.”

Psaki said her experience as Biden’s press secretary was shaped by the legacy of the previous Trump administration. Her team did not focus on making major changes, she said, because their first priority was reinstating respect towards the press.

But Meyers said the current administration’s lack of respect for journalism and its role within democracy has been so eroded that it cannot be restored by a single administration.

“You cannot have a free society without a free press,” she added.