Earlier today White House press secretary Jen Psaki tried to convince reporters at her briefing that President Biden in fact did not say the things everybody heard him clearly say yesterday about the legitimacy — or lack thereof — of the upcoming midterm elections. Here’s what Biden said yesterday:
Biden says that future elections "easily could be illegitimate."
"I'm not saying it's going to be legit. The increase in the prospect of it being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed." pic.twitter.com/DF0iOXX2jl
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 19, 2022
Part of Psaki’s clean-up duty today included an interview on CNN, and Jake Tapper wasn’t letting Psaki spin Biden’s way out of this one:
Jake Tapper grills Psaki on Biden's suggestion that elections won't be legit if voting rights bills aren't passed.
"I mean, isn’t the correct answer if this isn’t passed do you believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and legitimate isn’t the correct answer, yes?" pic.twitter.com/UMsdEa6EHS
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) January 20, 2022
Tapper isn't buying Psaki's clean-up attempts of Biden election remarks.
"But he didn’t say the elections are going to be legitimate and I’m going to be there making sure they are legitimate… He basically refused to say that, definitively, they’ll be legitimate." pic.twitter.com/fi2klUEMxL
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) January 20, 2022
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“When you’ve lost CNN…”
Good dissection of Psaki's weak spin on Biden questioning the legitimacy of the upcoming elections.
Psaki saying "Biden didn't mean the thing he said multiple times" really isn't good enough.https://t.co/1UyGzLWjIr
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) January 20, 2022
Democrats say Biden’s press conference went great, but if that’s the case why has Psaki spent the entire day going from media outlet to media outlet to explain that Biden didn’t really mean what he said about Russia/Ukraine and the legitimacy of an upcoming election?