Press Sec When Pressed on Judge Blocking Biden's Deportation Freeze: 'Get Some Sleep This Weekend'
White House press secretary Jen Psaki had some big shoes to fill when she stepped into her new role on Jan. 20 following the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
So far, she hasn’t been able to balance long enough in those shoes to give the mostly Biden-friendly White House press corps straight answers to some pretty basic questions.
She’s certainly is not in the league of Kayleigh McEnany, whose briefings were informative and direct, even as McEnany faced a gauntlet of hateful gotcha questions and smears.
A master at diversion, Psaki has been using her trusted “circle back” to you phrase all week to dodge questions. Psaki doesn’t appear to be engaging in a great deal of circling back to reporters to answer their questions, at least not according to Newsmax TV’s Emerald Robinson.
Here’s a story in two tweets:
Good on WH @PressSec @JRPsaki for calling on @Newsmax‘s @EmeraldRobinson during today’s briefing, who then asked about an executive order as it relates to China and the U.S. power grid.
Watch for Psaki’s fellow lefties to demand she never call on Emerald again in 3, 2, 1…. pic.twitter.com/DSVyWmapKy
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 25, 2021
It’s Tuesday and nobody from the Biden Administration has “circled back” to me to answer my question.
— Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) January 26, 2021
But at least on Thursday Psaki came up with a new line when seemingly stumped by a question about immigration.
Psaki was asked about a ruling in favor of the state of Texas earlier this week, which blocked a Biden executive order which had halted deporting illegal immigrants for a period of 100 days.
“On immigration: a federal judge in Texas has blocked your 100-day deportation pause. I just wanted to see how that’s impacting the Biden agenda and if that is any way or reason for perhaps a delay in an immigration [executive order] that we’ve been expecting,” a reporter asked.
Psaki brought out her favorite phrase, responding, “I know we had a statement on the specific case you referenced which I’m happy to circle back with you on it if you haven’t received it.”
Psaki, who brought in the now-infamous “circle back” line, added a new defense mechanism to her arsenal of strategy moves with regard to ducking tough or uncomfortable questions: get some sleep.
“Get some sleep this weekend. We’ll have more to say next week on immigration — ummm — the president will,” Psaki stated.
.@PressSec is asked about the federal judge in Texas blocking the Biden admin’s 100-day deportation freeze:
“Get some sleep this weekend. We will have more to say next week on immigration.” pic.twitter.com/9yqc3l5TF3
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 28, 2021
“We’ll have more to report out to you in the next couple days,” she added.
[firefly_poll]
Maybe Psaki knows more than she can tell. After all, Biden is thus far leading the country via executive actions. It must be challenging to be the face of a White House that governs through signing record EOs.
Many of those actions have been related to immigration, and Judge Drew Tipton of the Southern District of Texas ordered a 14-day pause on Biden’s deportation moratorium this week, handing his administration a big fat L in its first week. That wouldn’t be any fun to talk about, now, would it?
She might be diverting knowing she’s in friendly territory with the activist press corps there to lift her up and pass the uneasiness. Or maybe Psaki simply isn’t very good at her job.
Advising a reporter to “get some sleep” so she can presumably buy enough time to come up with a thoughtful answer on Biden’s expected continued actions on immigration is a pitiful example of how not to gain the trust of half of a public which is already eyeing her every word with suspicion.
Perhaps this is one area where the press secretary might do herself a favor to actually circle back on. Immigration is an issue that affects every American, so some insight with regard to how the Biden administration intends to continue legislating it via ink pen would be appropriate.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
