By this point, we all know by now that White House press secretary Jen “Circle Back” Psaki is absolutely light-years below former press secretary Kayleigh McEnanay when it comes to pure talent and effectiveness.
But a new report this week is suggesting that Psaki is even less talented than we think, as a bombshell report from the Daily Beast says that the White House communications team is pre-screening questions from reporters, which would be an absolute scandal of epic proportions if it would have happened in the Trump administration.
“According to three sources with knowledge of the matter, as well as written communications reviewed by The Daily Beast, the new president’s communications staff have already on occasion probed reporters to see what questions they plan on asking new White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when called upon during briefings,” the Daily Beast wrote on Tuesday.
Naturally, the idea that Psaki and the Biden administration would engage in pre-screening questions raises great concern among an already heavily-criticized White House press corps, as many of the reporters in that group have already had to battle against accusations of being biased one way or another.
The report also reveals that many reporters in the White House pool have begun telling colleagues to push back when the White House probes them for potential questions they might ask.
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“While it’s a relief to see briefings return, particularly with a commitment to factual information, the press can’t really do its job in the briefing room if the White House is picking and choosing the questions they want,” one White House correspondent said. “That’s not really a free press at all.”
Fox News picked up the story on Tuesday and reached out to the Biden White House for comment on the brewing situation.
“Our goal is to make the daily briefing as useful and informative as possible for both reporters and the public. Part of meeting that objective means regularly engaging with the reporters who will be in the briefing room to understand how the White House can be most helpful in getting them the information they need. That two-way conversation is an important part of keeping the American people updated about how government is serving them,” the White House spokesperson said
While not illegal, it certainly would make sense for Biden’s team to pre-screen questions, as Psaki has a difficult time answering questions that don’t relate to Biden’s dogs or what flavor of ice cream he prefers.
Again, imagine for just a second that McEnany was accused of screening questions from the WH press pool — it would have been frontpage news around the country. So far, mainstream media outlets — aside from Fox News — don’t appear to be covering the report and I certainly wouldn’t hold my breath in anticipation that they will.
ARTICLE SOURCE: thefederalistpapers.org
