Jen Psaki will hold her final White House press conference on Friday after more than a year in office as spokeswoman for President Joe Biden’s administration.
She held more briefings than all of the Trump administration’s press secretaries combined, and restored the daily White House briefing after Donald Trump preferred to serve as his own spokesman.
Psaki became known for her quiet, cool demeanor and deft zingers — many of which were aimed at Fox News’ Peter Doocy. The two served as frequent sparring partners, with Doocy quizzing her about Biden’s son Hunter, the response to the Covid pandemic, the migration issue at the border and other issues.
Psaki fans were quick to dub their responses “Psaki bombs.”
But she said she will miss the back-and-forth of the briefing.
“I’m going to miss him,” Psaki said of Doocy Thursday at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
“I think we have a very good professional relationship,” she said.
Jen Psaki’s last press conference is Friday; She was known for her sparring with Fox News’ Peter Doocy
Psaki had to defend herself last month after being asked on a podcast if Doocy was a “dumb son of ab***h” or just played one on TV.
“He works for a network that asks people questions that aren’t personal to a person, including Peter Doocy, but could make anyone sound like a dumb son of ab***h,” she had said.
Biden was previously caught on a hot mic calling Doocy a “dumb son of a bitch” after Doocy asked a question about political liability for record inflation rates since Biden took office.
He later called Doocy to apologize.
But Psaki said Thursday the Biden administration is “not here focused on a fight with Fox.”
“We have healthy debates and discussions. That doesn’t mean I agree with his questioning most days,” she said of Doocy.
When the White House announced earlier this month that Psaki was leaving on May 13, Doocy told her in the briefing that day, “I’m sorry you’re leaving!”
‘Are you?’ she answered and got laughter.
“Yeah, and you were a really good athlete,” Doocy said.
“Thank you,” said Psaki. “As.”
Jen Psaki and Peter Doocy’s best moments in the meeting room
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy were frequent sparring partners during their 15 months in the briefing room.
In some of Psaki and Doocy’s more viral moments, she noted he wasn’t a doctor, called him for asking a “loaded and inaccurate” question about vaccine disinformation, and dropped a few other “Psaki bombs” on him fall.
In July, Doocy Psaki asked how long the Biden administration had been “spiing on people’s Facebook profiles looking for misinformation about vaccines.”
“Now that was a rather loaded and imprecise question that I would refute,” Psaki replied.
In April, Doocy asked about wearing masks: “Why can we sit here in the White House briefing room without masks,” he asked while sitting next to a reporter wearing a mask, “but people can’t sit in an airplane cabin without masks?’
“Well, Peter, I’m not a doctor and you’re not a doctor, I’m aware of that,” Psaki said. ‘If you’re a doctor, I wasn’t aware of that until today.’
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy were frequent sparring partners during their 15 months in the briefing room
In October, Doocy asked Psaki why there should be vaccination orders for police officers when police departments deal with so many other challenges.
“There are other problems in the world,” Doocy said. “International terror, gang violence, murder, arson, drug trafficking. Any concerns?’
“What was the #1 killer of police officers last year, you know?” said Psaki. ‘COVID-19. That’s something we’re working on.”
But Psaki said she will miss the back-and-forth of the briefing.
“I’m going to miss him,” Psaki said of Doocy Thursday at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
“I think we have a very good professional relationship,” she said.
Psaki had to defend herself last month after being asked on a podcast if Doocy was a “dumb son of ab***h” or just played one on TV.
“He works for a network that asks people questions that aren’t personal to a person, including Peter Doocy, but could make anyone sound like a dumb son of ab***h,” she had said.
Biden was previously caught on a hot mic calling Doocy a “dumb son of a bitch” after Doocy asked a question about political liability for record inflation rates since Biden took office.
He later called Doocy to apologize.
But Psaki said Thursday the Biden administration is “not here focused on a fight with Fox.”
“We have healthy debates and discussions. That doesn’t mean I agree with his questioning most days,” she said of Doocy.
When the White House announced earlier this month that Psaki was leaving on May 13, Doocy told her in the briefing that day, “I’m sorry you’re leaving!”
‘Are you?’ she answered and got laughter.
“Yeah, and you were a really good athlete,” Doocy said.
“Thank you,” said Psaki. “As.”
Reflecting on her time at work Thursday, Psaki boasted that she’s done more briefings than all the Trump press secretaries combined and said the hardest part of the job was the personal threats, some of which bore her children’s names.
She revealed that she has received death threats, threatened people to come to her home and that her children have been threatened by name.
“Personally, the most difficult thing was that I received threats. I got angry letters, SMS with my personal address, my children’s names. It pushes boundaries, you know, and then it gets a little scary,” she said at a breakfast sponsored by Christian Science Monitor.
Psaki, 43, has two children, ages six and four. Her husband, Greg Mecher, has served as a Democratic staffer on Capitol Hill.
“I’m a public figure in many ways. People can like me or dislike me, that’s okay. You know, it’s, I think I’m very pro-freedom of speech. My kids are 6 and 4 and I am concerned for their safety. And that’s a real concern of mine and has been, and that may be of concern to officials,” she said.
She said some of the threats had been reported to the Secret Service.
“My address is all over the Arlington Republican Party,” she said.
Outgoing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reflected on her time at work ahead of her final briefing. Psaki leaves the high-profile job on Friday
Jen Psaki said the hardest part of her job is that she and her children have received threats — Psaki, her husband and children could be seen at Turkey’s annual White House pardon last November
Psaki is not the first spokesman to be threatened.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s first spokeswoman, received intelligence protection during her tenure due to threats and after being confronted in restaurants by critics of the Trump administration.
In her reflection on her work, Psaki said when she came in after the turbulent Trump years, her focus was on restoring and restoring “public trust and trust in institutions and trust in the media.”
“I’ve given more press conferences than any single Trump press secretary combined,” Psaki noted.
The Trump administration did not hold many press conferences. Stephanie Grisham did not have a single during her tenure. Donald Trump tended to use Twitter and campaign events to communicate with the public.
Biden’s government tried to reorganize relations with the press. Psaki delivered her first briefing on Biden’s first day in office. She has answered reporters’ questions almost every weekday of the nearly 500 days that Biden has been in office.
After Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, she is the most recognizable face of the Biden administration.
She will leave the high-profile job Friday and be replaced by her chief deputy, Karine Jean-Pierre, who is poised to become the first black person and openly gay person to serve as White House press secretary.
After the last briefing on Friday, Psaki will have conducted 225 press conferences. The four people who held the job under President Donald Trump conducted a total of 205 briefings, according to data from Martha Joynt Kumar of the White House Transition Project, which tracks this type of data.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki spoke to a media representative aboard Air Force One last Friday — she will be holding her final press briefing this Friday
After the last briefing on Friday, Psaki will have conducted 225 press conferences. The four people who held the job under President Donald Trump collectively conducted 205 briefings
Psaki is a longtime democratic activist.
“I’ve worked more in the White House than anywhere else in my career,” she noted Thursday.
During the administration of President Barack Obama, she was Director of Communications. And she served as John Kerry’s spokeswoman at the State Department when he was Secretary of State.
Between the Obama and Biden administrations, she was a political commentator on CNN.
She hasn’t said what she will do next, but it has been reported that she will sign a deal with MSNBC.