White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is “out of the office.”
Psaki is taking some time off. Per Fox News, when reaching out to the White House spokesperson for comments on Sunday, an auto-reply message was received and “the voice of the White House would not be available for the next week.”
The email returned read, “I will be out of the office from August 15th-August 22nd.” The Fox News story adds, “Psaki’s reply directs the press to reach out to other press officers in her absence.”
Additionally, President Joe Biden is at Camp David.
According to CNN, which cites a senior administration official, Biden is expected to address the nation on the crises in Afghanistan in the “next few days.” As CNN also reports, “officials are aware of the optics of the President being out of town during this perilous moment.”
Can confirm. Auto-reply from Jen Psaki says: “I will be out of the office from August 15th – August 22nd. In my absence, please reach out to” three other members of the WH press team. pic.twitter.com/FPxS9kmqSs
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) August 16, 2021
CNN's @clarissaward reports on what Afghanistan looks like as the Taliban take over.https://t.co/pJuaHC3iBC pic.twitter.com/zx9shFE8Lj
— CNN This Morning with Audie Cornish (@CNNThisMorning) August 16, 2021
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as Taliban forces entered the capital. The Taliban seized the presidential palace in Kabul.
Leaders of the Taliban declared on Monday that “the war is over,” according to Axios. As the publication reports, following the U.S. troop withdrawal, “the Taliban gained ground with extraordinary speed, capturing provincial capitals at a rate that shocked the Biden administration and international community.”
Biden issued a statement on Saturday:
INBOX: @POTUS Biden provides a written statement on the quickly deteriorating situation in #Afghanistan: Says he’s “authorized the deployment of approximately 5,000 US troops.” pic.twitter.com/EYKGjt8AWN
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) August 14, 2021
The U.S. will send 1,000 more U.S. troops to Kabul, after deploying 5,000, according to NBC News, which cites two U.S. Defense Department officials.
