Finally, it was announced by the White House on Wednesday that Kamala Harris would be, at long last, visiting the border on Friday. And while many journalists and media outlets have downplayed the unfolding disaster there, Fox’s Peter Doocy called out the cynical decision to send the Vice President there.
At Wednesday’s White House briefing, Doocy demanded, “So about today's announcement. Why is the Vice President visiting the border this week when earlier this month, she dismissed a trip like that, saying it would be ‘a grand gesture.’”
Psaki tried to spin Harris’s disastrous interview with Lester Holt in which she insisted that “we’ve” been to the border. (She hasn’t.) Doocy skeptically asked, “I've got the NBC interview right here. She was talking about how she hasn't been on the border. She hasn't been to Europe either. So does she think that these two things are the same?”
Doocy also mentioned that Donald Trump would be going down south, quizzing, “Was it important for the White House to have her seen at the border before former President Trump has a trip there next week?”
For a change, Doocy got a little backup as NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell wondered:
Would you concede there is a political calculation to having the vice president visit the border before Donald Trump goes, and with a drumbeat from Republicans who have counted the days that she has not visited the border? Isn’t there a political decision in the timing of this?
Now, will O’Donnell and her network colleagues actually follow through and show some skepticism next week as the Vice President finally discovers the border? Don’t hold your breath.
A transcript of Doocy’s question is below. Click “expand” to read more.
White House briefing
6/23/2021
PETER DOOCY: So about today's announcement. Why is the Vice President visiting the border this week when earlier this month, she dismissed a trip like that, saying it would be “a grand gesture.”
JEN PSAKI: She also said in an interview with NBC that she would be open to going to the border if it was an appropriate time. She said that after she said that, so that's important context as well. Important context.
DOOCY: Important context. Okay, I’ve got that. I've got the NBC interview right here. She was talking about how she hasn't been on the border. She hasn't been to Europe either. So does she think that these two things are the same?
PSAKI: And again, Peter, I think. She also said in the same interview that she would be open to going to the border at an appropriate time. And what I'm conveying to you is that, well, as a part of her assignment, she is, of course, hosted a number of bilateral engagements. She's visited the Northern Triangle. She's taking made a number of announcements about how to address root causes that she was going to assess with the Department of Homeland Security and with the administration when it was the appropriate time to go, and I will note that we're at this point, in part because we've made a great deal of progress.
...
DOOCY: Was it important for the White House to have her seen at the border before former President Trump has a trip there next week?
PSAKI: We made an assessment within our government about when it was an appropriate time for her to go to the border.
