With little in the way of an answer on Monday about whether the Biden administration was taking the possibility of a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology seriously, Fox News’s Peter Doocy was back on the case during Tuesday’s White House briefing asking Press Secretary Jen Psaki about Wuhan. Just as he did on Monday, he received help coming in the form of Team Biden suck-up Annie Linskey of The Washington Post.
And on another topic, Doocy also made a second attempt at seeking comment on the rising crime across major U.S. cities.
Doocy began with Wuhan and wanted to know whether President Biden would talk more publicly about the origin’s of the virus “now that COVID-19 may have been manmade and escaped from a lab in China are a wacky conspiracy theory or, based on what he has heard and been briefed on, does he think that’s possible.”
Psaki quipped that the two of them “went through this journey together yesterday, so let’s do it again,” explaining the Biden’s position hasn’t changed in that he wants “an independent investigation, one that’s run by the international community” (even though a much-maligned report had already been done) in which China was more forthcoming.
She added that doing otherwise would be irresponsibly “jump[ing] to conclusions.”
Seeing as how he wasn’t going to get anywhere, Doocy moved to crime and cited a rise in homicides over the last year of “113 percent in Minneapolis, up 38 percent in Philly, up 22 percent in Chicago” as a way to have Psaki restate what she had appeared to have done on Monday in blaming it on the volume of guns.
Psaki seemed to imply she wasn’t sure Doocy’s numbers were accurate and when she tried to pass the buck to the Trump administration, the FNC reporter interjected. This led her to suggest throwing money at the problem would help (click “expand”):
PSAKI: Well, first, I’m not sure what data you’re looking at, but I think what we can — most data that is out there shows that there’s actually been a rise in crime over the course of the last year, since the start of the pandemic, which actually predates President Biden, taking office, to be totally clear.
DOOCY: But he is the President right now —
PSAKI: You’re right. You’re right. You’re right, Peter.
DOOCY: — while there is a big increase in crime —
PSAKI: And that’s why we are focused. Well, we’re focused on solutions here, and that’s why we proposed putting five — we put $5 billion in the American Jobs Plan to help address community violent intervention programs, to help fund them. That’s also why we fought for funding for state and local governments in the Rescue Plan, something many opposed. There was a lot of Republican opposition to that. That’s helped keep cops on the beat and other public servants in vital roles. And it’s why his budget proposes to increase funding for the cops program by $300 million to invigorate community policing. We believe there needs to be funding. We believe there needs to be — we need to help — from the federal government ensure community policing and local police have the assistance they need.
Before moving on, Doocy closed with a simple yes or no question about whether Biden agrees with St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones (D) that, as per Doocy’s paraphrasing, “more police does not prevent crime.”
Psaki refused to comply and instead said Biden “believes there’s a number of steps that need to be taken to rebuild trust in communities” and “there’s not going to be a shortage of funding under our watch.”
Less than ten minutes later, Linskey came up and chose to “continu[e] on the Wuhan journey” and begin her Q&A by drilling down on a House Republicans report that she summarized as “suggesting that dissenting views in the intelligence community were suppressed” with the lab leak being one such viewpoint.
She engaged in a somewhat lengthy back-and-forth with Psaki that consisted of passing the buck to the Trump administration, welcoming another international report (likely led by the pro-China World Health Organization), and praising civil servants.
Before Linskey moved on to picking up on Doocy’s Friday question to Biden about UFOs, she made her own case for why Biden should want to personally get to the bottom of what happened in Wuhan.
Showing her condescending side, Psaki demurred because “you’re not a public health expert, I assume, neither am I” (click “expand”):
LINSKEY: But we have an intelligence apparatus that’s much greater, ideally then the rest of the world. I mean, wouldn’t there naturally be quite a curiosity within the Biden administration that this could have come from a lab in Wuhan. I mean, it’s — you know, nearly 600,000 people here have died and the President has shown enormous amount of empathy for that, but should this be the cause, it would seem that the United States would want to put some of its intelligence firepower onto that question.
PSAKI: I think Annie, as you’re not a public health expert, I assume, neither am I. I think we need access to the underlying data, we need access to the information that the Chinese government has, in order to make a determination through the international bodies that would do this investigation. And that’s something we’ve called for many, many times and we’ve pressed with our international partners, for the WHO to support an expert driven evaluation of the pandemic’s origins. We would certainly participate in that with all of our resources from the United States, but given it was an international pandemic, yes, it’s killed, as you said, more than 500,000 people here in the United States, killed hundreds of thousands more around the world. We’re going to do that in coordination with our international partners, continue to press the Chinese, to release that data and information and play a constructive role in the second phase of the investigation.
And on one final note, numerous reporters pressed Psaki on the lack of public involvement on the part of President Biden with police reform being the latest example.
Psaki repeatedly offered spin along the lines of Biden empowering negotiators and routinely checking in with his staff as he remains in charge, but it’s doubtful that anyone with a pulse watching would walk away thinking Biden and not his staff are the ones in control.
To see the relevant transcript from May 25’s briefing, click “expand.”
White House Press Briefing
May 25, 2021
12:59 p.m. EasternPETER DOOCY: First, on COVID, does President Biden think these theories we hear more about now that COVID-19 may have been manmade and escaped from a lab in China are a wacky conspiracy theory or, based on what he has heard and been briefed on, does he think that’s possible?
JEN PSAKI: Well, we went through this journey together yesterday, so let’s do it again. The President believes there needs to be an independent investigation, one that’s run by the international community. It’s an international pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world. He believes the Chinese need to do more to put forward data, to be more transparent. In the second phase of this effort, he’s certainly hopeful that will be the case. And he believes that every theory should be explored through that process, but that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions before that data and that information is made available.
DOOCY: Thank you. And on the rise in violent crime, compared to this time last year, homicides 113 percent in Minneapolis, up 38 percent in Philly, up 22 percent in Chicago, just to clarify, the White House’s position on this is that that is mostly because of guns?
PSAKI: Well, first, I’m not sure what data you’re looking at, but I think what we can — most data that is out there shows that there’s actually been a rise in crime over the course of the last year, since the start of the pandemic, which actually predates President Biden, taking office, to be totally clear.
DOOCY: But he is the President right now —
PSAKI: You’re right. You’re right. You’re right, Peter.
DOOCY: — while there is a big increase in crime —
PSAKI: And that’s why we are focused. Well, we’re focused on solutions here, and that’s why we proposed putting five — we put $5 billion in the American Jobs Plan to help address community violent intervention programs, to help fund them. That’s also why we fought for funding for state and local governments in the Rescue Plan, something many opposed. There was a lot of Republican opposition to that. That’s helped keep cops on the beat and other public servants in vital roles. And it’s why his budget proposes to increase funding for the cops program by $300 million to invigorate community policing. We believe there needs to be funding. We believe there needs to be — we need to help — from the federal government ensure community policing and local police have the assistance they need.
DOOCY: Then the last one, the mayor of St. Louis says that she believes more police does not prevent crime. Does President Biden agree with that?
PSAKI: The President believes there’s a number of steps that need to be taken to rebuild trust in communities. Police reform is long outdated. He also believes that there needs to be funding for local programs and local initiatives, and there’s not going to be a shortage of funding under our watch.
(....)
1:11 p.m. Eastern
ANNIE LINSKEY: First, just continuing on the Wuhan journey. I wanted to ask a little bit about the report from House Republicans suggesting that dissenting views in the intelligence community were suppressed, sort of to follow up on the origins of — of this — of this virus. Can you comment on that, whether some of these dissenting views were suppressed in the intelligence community and whether the Biden administration is doing anything to ensure that doesn’t happen?
PSAKI: Intelligence views suppressed by the prior administration/
LINSKEY: This administration, the prior administration. This is now the Biden administration so —
PSAKI: I know, but I think this is —
LINSKEY: — but this is a culture —
PSAKI: — an accusation about the prior administration —
LINSKEY: — well, this is culture —
PSAKI: — suppressing views.
LINSKEY: — but this is a culture that the Biden administration has inherited. I mean, the intelligence community has not had any sort of major overhaul that I’m aware of at least and if there is a sense that this view was being suppressed in some — in some way, is there anything the Biden administration has done to make sure that’s not the case?
PSAKI: Well, I think we’ve sent a clear message that we are going to rebuild our institutions, whether that’s the intelligence community, the Justice Department, other — the civil service who are the backbone of our — our government. So there’s no question about that. I think when it comes to the — the kind of reports we’ve seen over the last couple of days, you know, our view is that sound and technically credible theories should be thoroughly evaluated by international experts and yes, there’ve been a range of reports, but a fact sheet issued by the previous administration on January 15th, which I think there’s been a lot of focus on, did not draw any conclusions regarding the origins of the coronavirus. So our view is that yes, there are a range of views. We welcome the range of views throughout the administration. There still needs to be an international investigation. We need Chinese cooperation in order to provide data, in order to be transparent about what happens on the ground. We all want to see that outcome. There are a lot of good questions we have the Chinese should answer and that’s where our primary focus is on.
LINSKEY: But we have an intelligence apparatus that’s much greater, ideally then the rest of the world. I mean, wouldn’t there naturally be quite a curiosity within the Biden administration that this could have come from a lab in Wuhan. I mean, it’s — you know, nearly 600,000 people here have died and the President has shown enormous amount of empathy for that, but should this be the cause, it would seem that the United States would want to put some of its intelligence firepower onto that question.
PSAKI: I think Annie, as you’re not a public health expert, I assume, neither am I. I think we need access to the underlying data, we need access to the information that the Chinese government has, in order to make a determination through the international bodies that would do this investigation. And that’s something we’ve called for many, many times and we’ve pressed with our international partners, for the WHO to support an expert driven evaluation of the pandemic’s origins. We would certainly participate in that with all of our resources from the United States, but given it was an international pandemic, yes, it’s killed, as you said, more than 500,000 people here in the United States, killed hundreds of thousands more around the world. We’re going to do that in coordination with our international partners, continue to press the Chinese, to release that data and information and play a constructive role in the second phase of the investigation.
LINSKEY: I just also wanted to ask you about a phenomenon known as —
PSAKI: The giggle gives away, I know what this question is. Will see.
LINSKEY: — see, I’ve already ruined it here, but this is, you know, quite a serious issue. There are these unrecognized objects in U.S. air space that are also known as unidentified aerial phenomenon, I understand. And I wanted to see there’s a DNI report that I understand is going to be a released soon. Can the Biden administration commit to releasing it in full?
PSAKI: Well, that would be a decision by the Department of National Intelligence to make. As you noted, we’re aware of the report requirement and our team at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is of course actively working on that report and we take reports of incursions into our airspace by any aircraft, identified or unidentified, very seriously and investigate each one. But ODNI would be working on that report and in terms of disclosure, that would be up to them.
LINSKEY: I guess, in all seriousness though, can you characterize the President’s concerns about this phenomenon? I mean, it is this concept of objects in U.S. air space that are either origin from other nations or other entities. But what is the concern of the President that this phenomenon that seems to occur in the national security apparatus?
PSAKI: Well, I think broadly speaking, the fact that we have a team that’s actively working on a report, certainly the safety of our personnel security of our operations, our airspace are of paramount concern, whether that is identified or unidentified aircraft and we don’t discuss that publicly for a range of reasons, but certainly the President supports the ODNI putting together a report and following through on that commitment.
