Following her incorrect assertion in a recent book that President Biden never looked at his watch during a ceremony honoring troops lost during the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan in 2021, former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki took a backseat.
According to Axios, The president “glanced at his watch just after the ceremony had completed,” according to Psaki, an MSNBC anchor now. He and the First Lady soon after made their way to their automobile.
In addition, she said that Biden’s detractors spread “misinformation” and made him appear insensitive by using an image of him looking at his watch to show how much time had gone.
Despite photographic proof, media fact-checks, and remarks from Gold Star parents of a U.S. service member killed in the Kabul airport assault who were present at the ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, Psaki disputed that Biden looked at his watch.
“I saw you check your watch five times in disdain for us all! How come you had to constantly check your watch? What the f*** was so important? stated Shana Chappell, the mother of Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, in a Facebook post.
“While I stood there watching you check your watch many times, all I wanted to do was cry out, ‘It is two f***ing thirty, a**hole,’” said Mark Schmitz, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, in a congressional testimony.
In addition, Psaki’s book misattributed statements from The Washington Post to USA Today, pointing out that Biden checked his watch following the ceremony, despite the fact that the story also stated that Biden did so during it.
Following the publication of its article, Axios obtained a statement from Psaki stating that the specific number of times he looked at his watch, which was included in a few paragraphs of the book, would not be included in future printing or the ebook.
Psaki emphasized that her experience was “truly about the need to offer feedback even when it is tough, as articulated through my own experience of informing President Biden that the families who were grieving their children did not accept his own narrative of loss well.”
On social media, the book incident caused backlash.
In a message to X, Tom Bevan, the president and co-founder of RealClearPolitics, stated, “Jen Psaki lied in her book about an easy, demonstrable truth.”
“Saying that Gold Star families are liars — even when there is photographic proof — is a pitiful partisan attempt to defend your boss and a horrible image,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) said in another post to X.
