Jen Psaki holds mock press briefing trashing 'MAGA spin' on White House questions
MSNBC’s Jen Psaki appeared to mock White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt with her own spin as press secretary for the Trump administration during her show on Friday.
"I have noticed the White House briefing room has taken a bit of a bizarro turn lately. And I figured, what the hell, it’s a Friday night. Why not dust off the cobwebs and field a few questions from the White House press briefing room today? Because it’s been a while. Of course, I’m going to answer them without the usual MAGA spin," Psaki said on "The Briefing."
The former White House press secretary used actual questions asked at Friday’s press briefing and gave what she believed were proper responses in front of a fake briefing backdrop.
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One question included the New York Post’s Washington correspondent, Steven Nelsen, asking about any details that could be shared about New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ meeting with the president.
"Eric Adams is visiting because he owes his current freedom to the guy sitting in the White House," Psaki said. "Let’s stop pretending this is on the level, like where the relationship is between a president and a New York City mayor just coordinating city business in a normal course of events. I mean, even the judge who allowed the case to be dropped said that it, quote, smacks of a bargain."
Psaki closed with a question about why President Donald Trump chose to fire the Librarian of Congress, suggesting racism may have played a part in firing a Black woman.
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"[W]hy did Trump abruptly fire Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, who has served in her position, I would note, since 2016 and was confirmed by the Senate with bipartisan support in a vote of 74 to 18? Psaki said. "Well, I’m going to use a visual aid. Here’s a picture of her. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions on why Trump and his administration decided to fire Carla Hayden. Hope that was all clarifying."
Psaki took over MSNBC’s coveted 9 p.m. ET timeslot on Tuesday through Fridays this week with her show "The Briefing." The show debuted with 1.2 million viewers and 139,000 in the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54, but her second episode on Wednesday plummeted to just over one million total viewers and only 65,000 in the demo.
MSNBC’s newest program shed a staggering 53% of its demo viewers compared to the first episode only one day prior. Psaki’s program also lost a whopping 67% of viewers between the ages of 18-49 after only one episode, as "The Briefing" averaged 113,000 on Tuesday and only 37,000 on Wednesday.