Press Secretary Jen Psaki Opens First Press Briefing of the Biden Administration
Jen Psaki opened the first press conference of the Biden administration, re-establishing a relationship with the press and reviewing the slew of executive orders that President Joe Biden signed during his first day in the White House.
It was civil and a complete reversal from what has happened in the rare press briefings of the last four years.
Psaki, the former Obama-era White House communications director and chief State Department spokesperson opened the press conference vowing to bring back an era of “truth and transparency” to the briefing room and committed to having regularly scheduled press briefings — a markedly different approach from the infrequent and often hostile interactions with the press that defined the Trump administration’s time in the White House.
Psaki spent a majority of the press conference reviewing the 15 executive orders that Biden signed that afternoon concerning the pandemic and reversing a slew of Trump policies, including ending the “Muslim ban,” pausing construction on the border wall, and re-joining the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement.
Psaki told the press that Biden would let Congress decide on how to move forward on the second trial for Trump after the House voted last week to impeach him for inciting an insurrection at the Capitol while Congress was certifying the Electoral College votes. The trial could consume the Senate’s time during the opening weeks of the Biden administration with few members of his cabinet confirmed.
Psaki said reporters should expect the briefings to keep coming; she plans for them to be daily, just not on weekends.