White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki put an end to an exchange with a reporter from the New York Post, telling him, “We’re going to move on.”
New York Post reporter Steven Nelson questioned Psaki about a report published by Vanity Fair titled, “The Biden Administration Rejected an October Proposal for ‘Free Rapid Tests for the Holidays.'”
The outlet reported, “On October 22, a group of COVID-19 testing experts joined a Zoom call with officials from the Biden administration and presented a strategy for overhauling America’s approach to testing.”
Nelson asked Psaki during a White House press briefing which administration officials attended the meeting in October and if Biden was briefed at the time on the issue. He also wondered why it has not been brought up more among reporters.
“Well, maybe people haven’t asked about it because we’ve done a lot of what was discussed in that meeting that happened a couple of months ago, including massively expanding our testing program and capacity,” Psaki said.
She added, “And the issue at the time, which is a very small part of the conversation, was that the market had not expanded enough to, at that moment in time, be able to launch the website we’re launching tomorrow.”
Psaki then explained the members of the Covid team who “participated saw that as a very constructive meaning good meeting, a lot of which we’ve worked to implement.”
Nelson asked again, “How can President Biden shut down the virus if he’s, you know, not being briefed on these ideas? I mean, that’s my question. So I’m wondering who were the advisers and was President Biden briefed on this idea at the time?”
She replied, “I think I just answered your question, which you may not have been listening. Maybe you were waiting to read your next question, which is fine, but I just answered your question.”
Psaki: I just answered your question which you may not have been listening, maybe you were waiting to read your next question pic.twitter.com/aWZowPxwKg
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 18, 2022
Nelson attempted to interrupt Psaki.
“Let me finish. Let me finish, Steven. Steven, I’m finishing. What I said to you just a minute ago is that we did not have the capacity at the moment,” Psaki said.
She continued, “We had a very constructive meeting with this group. We agreed on the need to expand our testing capacity. That’s why we quadrupled the size of our testing capacity and why the president had already used the Defense Production Act to invest $3 billion. But the market did not have the capacity at that moment to do what we’re doing tomorrow.”
He tried asking again, but Psaki told him, “Again, I’ve answered your question. If you have another one, I’m happy to answer it. Otherwise, I’m going to move on to the next person.”
Moving on to his second question, Nelson noted data shows Biden “spent a quarter of his days, at least partially in Delaware.”
He added, “In light of that. Will the White House be reconsidering the decision not to release visitor log information from his Delaware residences?”
She responded, “Well, the president goes to Delaware because it’s his home. It’s also where his son and his former wife are buried. And it’s a place that is obviously close to his heart. A lot of presidents go visit their home when they are president.”
Psaki went on, “We also have gone a step further than the prior administration and many administrations in releasing visitor logs of people who visit the White House. And we’ll continue to do that.”
Nelson attempted to interject again when Psaki shut him down.
“Go ahead in the back. I think we’re done and we’re going to move on. Go ahead in the back,” Psaki said.
