While the opposition party always accuses the White House press secretary of being untruthful, President Biden’s mouthpiece Jen Psaki gave Baghdad Bob a real run for his money when she claimed that the president didn’t actually say what he was captured on video saying.
Psaki responded to debate that Biden had not taken the advice from his top military advisers about keeping 2500 troops in Afghanistan in comments Tuesday that triggered a wave of mockery on social media. Speaking at a press briefing following testimony by top military brass before the Senate on Tuesday, Psaki squirmed under relentless questions by reporters as she attempted to cover Biden’s remarks which were clearly captured on video.
Her performance sparked heavy criticism of the “spin” and questions about her abilities after she confusingly announced: “That is not the decision the president made. It’s up to the commander in chief to make those decisions.”
Wait, isn’t he both of those?
— Deb Kay 🍁 (@deb_h7) September 28, 2021
She faced a grilling from some in the media after Biden’s top military officials, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the head of Central Command, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, along with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and despite the president saying differently, they seemed to concur that Biden was advised to keep 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Q: “Who in his military advisers told him it’d be fine to pull everybody out?”
.@PressSec: “I’m not going to get into specific details of who recommended what.”
Full video here: https://t.co/FcZV0W1Rmw pic.twitter.com/dV28351bXQ
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 28, 2021
When asked about this during an interview with ABC News, Biden said he couldn’t recall getting that advice. Yet, Psaki would take to Twitter later to put forth her best effort to spin the truth while blaming former President Donald Trump and his administration.
“As POTUS told ABC, ending the war in Afghanistan was in our national interest,” she tweeted. “He said advice was split, but consensus of top military advisors was 2500 troops staying meant escalation due to deal by the previous admin. [Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin], the Chairman [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley], and [U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Frank McKenzie] all reiterated.”
As @POTUS told ABC, ending the war in Afghanistan was in our national interest. He said advice was split, but consensus of top military advisors was 2500 troops staying meant escalation due to deal by the previous admin. @SecDef, the Chairman, and GEN McKenzie all reiterated.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) September 28, 2021
At Tuesday’s press briefing, Psaki claimed that “there were recommendations made by a range of his advisors.”
When a reporter asked Psaki who the military advisor was that told the president it would be fine to pull everybody out, the press secretary quickly circled back.
“That’s not what I said. What I said was they recommended… I think we should not dumb this down for anybody here. We’re talking about the initial phase, post-May one. We’re not talking about long- term recommendations. There was no one who said, five years from now we could have 2,500 troops and that would be sustainable.”
Continuing to press, the reporter said, “But the president was told all US troops out — you’re saying that there were military commanders who advised him that that was a good idea to pull all the American troops out and that General Milley, General McKenzie, General Miller, they said something else. But the president’s top military advisers, others, we won’t name, told him, sure. We can pull everyone out.”
Psaki then engaged in a word salad suggesting she just wasn’t up to the task of defending the indefensible — removing U.S. troops from Afghanistan while thousands of American citizens and green card holders remained.
“That’s not how these conversations go. It’s a risk assessment for every president about what is in the interest of the United States of America, our military and our national interests,” Psaki replied.
“And if we had kept 2,500 troops there, we would have increased the number of troops, we would have been at war with the Taliban, we would have had more US casualties. That was a reality. Everybody was clear-eyed about. There are some, as is evidenced by people testifying today, who felt we should have still done that. That is not the decision the president made. It’s up to the commander in chief to make those decisions,” she added.
What is not disputable is what Biden said on camera during an interview with ABC News.
Psaki is lying. It’s on video –>
ABC News: “Your military advisers did not tell you, ‘No, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that?”
BIDEN: “No. No one said that to me that I can recall.”pic.twitter.com/8SUQmzAYc8 https://t.co/TuPQJ6cwlI
— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) September 28, 2021
Social media eviscerated Psaki over her attempt to spin reality, reminding her that there’s video footage, while tying the story to another trampling of the truth by this White House — that being the false claim that Border Patrol agents “whipped” illegal immigrants from Haiti.
Here’s a sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:
The spin here. Good lord. https://t.co/FigOkRhlWD
— kaitlin, rino attention seeking whore (@thefactualprep) September 28, 2021
He said NO ONE told him not to pull all the troops out. It’s on video
— Tucker Jerbs (@Tucker_Jerbs) September 28, 2021
That’s not what he said. You’re such a dishonest hack.
— GOPPouncer (@Mellecon) September 28, 2021
Jen, did you happen to see that Milley and McKenzie also had whips and horses this morning? Chilling. https://t.co/UAi2nXvZGT
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 28, 2021
See, right as everyone was trying to warn Biden against his bloody blunder in Afghanistan, a bunch of Border Patrol horses galloped right through the Oval Office, so Biden couldn’t hear what the military guys were saying. Damn those horses! Damn them to Hell! https://t.co/wn58rIyqS1
— John Hayward (@Doc_0) September 28, 2021
This kind of spin is dizzying. 😵 #LittleRedLyingHood https://t.co/mJ23NH6Qsx
— Sheri Gilligan (@SheriGilligan) September 29, 2021
Poor Jen. Can’t keep up with the circle of lies.
— Laurie (@WaltsPrincesss) September 28, 2021
Do you really think anybody believes this stretched interpretation of what was said by the President. He either forgot what he said or he lied about it.
— Troncelliti Law (@TroncellitiLaw) September 28, 2021
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