Last night, we told you about White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s last-minute vacation.
https://t.co/29s3oAfWbH pic.twitter.com/7vR4E8PSZ1
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) August 16, 2021
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 (@JerryDunleavy) August 16, 2021
It’s a bad look, to be sure. But then again, can we really blame her when her own boss is effectively doing the same thing?
White House actively discussing how & when President Biden will address the nation on Afghanistan, with senior officials acknowledging Americans want to hear from him. He’s scheduled to stay at Camp David until Weds but could cut that short to return to WH. Nothing finalized yet.
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) August 16, 2021
Biden hasn’t spoken on-camera about Afghanistan since Tuesday & notably no public remarks (just a paper statement) since surging thousands of troops to evacuate Americans from Kabul Thursday.
As of now, there are no plans for a White House briefing today. State will hold one.
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) August 16, 2021
No plans for a White House briefing. No word from the President of the United States. The freaking President of the United States.
Today President Biden spoke with Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan about the ongoing efforts to safely drawdown the civilian footprint in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/yhzXcJe7pl
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 13, 2021
Post from the White House after they announce that Biden will remain at Camp David until next Wednesday https://t.co/xYCU8t800u
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) August 13, 2021
Remarkable that Biden’s 600-word statement from Camp David reads like the draft of a speech.
Did they just scrap the idea of putting him on camera? https://t.co/4kHW7Hr6u5
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) August 14, 2021
Photo released by the WH showing Biden alone at a conference table at Camp David does not project much confidence pic.twitter.com/q2dNI92Eui
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) August 15, 2021
Biden’s schedule notes he will remain at Camp David on Monday with no public events scheduled
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) August 16, 2021
A public event of some kind seems warranted when Afghanistan is falling to the Taliban as a direct consequence of your purported foreign policy expertise, no?
When you’re trying to convince the boss to act… pic.twitter.com/z5TbjmHTPA
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) August 15, 2021
The media really need Joe Biden to step up right now. Otherwise they might have to admit that he’s actually an unmitigated disaster. And they wouldn’t know what the hell to do with themselves.
I know there’s a lot worth criticizing right now but this approach really is unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/Qul0i6N606
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 16, 2021
If Trump hid this long, CNN would be running a clock.
— Neil Stevens (@presjpolk) August 16, 2021
With Biden MIA, and Psaki on vacation, they won’t even get the deputy White House press secretary in front of the media – and the public – today.
Just a total abdication of responsibility, at a time when we need tough press questioning of the administration the most. https://t.co/5hO18AXt9S
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) August 16, 2021
Beyond despicable https://t.co/UgajGDLSKv
— Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) August 16, 2021
***
Update:
Joe Biden will not be shamed into addressing the fall of Afghanistan:
White House pool report sent ten minutes ago: "No changes to the president’s schedule per the White House press office a few minutes ago. Pool call time is 10 a.m."
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) August 16, 2021
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