Democracy dies in kitten updates and ice cream musing? White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s early press conferences have been loaded with softballs, but apparently not enough for the new Democratic administration. On Monday, Psaki fielded Twitter questions and asked herself the tough queries on Joe Biden’s favorite flavors and a potential new cat.
In a video for the official White House page, she began rhetorically, “In my first tweet, I asked all of you to send me questions. So today, I’m going to answer them. 'Will you take the hard questions from reporters in stride for transparency?'" Psaki told Psaki: “Yes, that’s my goal.”
With that out of the way, she offered this pressing query: “First feline updates would be greatly appreciated.”
Talking to herself, she relayed, “I’m also wondering about the cat because the cat is going to dominate the internet whenever the cat is announced and wherever that cat is found.” Here’s another hand picked question: “President Biden is a big ice cream fan, so does that giant freezer full of ice cream really exist?”
Psaki replied to herself:
When I was in Wilmington before the President was inaugurated, I did ask him for my four-year-old niece Suraya who’s very curious about what his favorite ice cream was and his favorite ice cream is chocolate chip. So that is my update for all of you on that, but I have not found the freezer yet.
Last week, CBS journalist Major Garrett admitted that the press coverage of Biden would likely be “opaque.” Opaque. That may be Biden’s other favorite flavor of ice cream.
There were a few more on point questions. (Ex: “Will there be any help for those of us that can’t work because of COVID?”) But even those weren’t exactly tough. How could they be when you’re asking them to yourself?
A transcript of the video is below. Click "expand" to read more.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Answers Your Questions
1/25/2021
JEN PSAKI: I’m Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary. In my first tweet, I asked all of you to send me questions. So today, I’m going to answer them. “Will you take the hard questions from reporters in stride for transparency?” Yes, that’s my goal. When I talked to President Biden, then President-elect Biden, about the opportunity to be White House Press Secretary, one of the things we talked about was the tone and the importance of taking things in stride and being even-keeled and calm. “Will there be any help for those of us that can’t work because of COVID?”
Yes, that is absolutely our goal. If you were one of millions of Americans who are filing for unemployment insurance, who are worried about not having a job, who are trying to pay your mortgage, we are trying to provide some relief. There’s some executive actions that the president signed which means he can put the delay of paying student loans in place easily through an action that doesn’t require Congress. But we also have a big COVID relief package that he’s trying to work with Democrats and Republicans. “First feline updates would be greatly appreciated.”
I’m also wondering about the cat because the cat is going to dominate the internet whenever the cat is announced and wherever that cat is found. “What are the plans for the Biden administration on DACA?” Not only does he want to protect DACA, but he also introduced an immigration bill because he wants there to be a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented in this country. So he actually has taken a number of steps beyond DACA. But DACA is very important to him and protecting it. “President Biden is a big ice cream fan, so does that giant freezer full of ice cream really exist?”
I have not found it and I have worked here before. When I was in Wilmington before the President was inaugurated, I did ask him for my four-year-old niece Suraya who’s very curious about what his favorite ice cream was and his favorite ice cream is chocolate chip. So that is my update for all of you on that, but I have not found the freezer yet.
