The White House went into full defense mode after Press Secretary Jen Psaki was grilled by Fox New’s Kristin Fisher.
Fisher was citing the report that illegal immigrant children housed at the San Diego Convention Center are receiving in person teaching however, American children living in San Diego are not.
“I’d like to find out what the White House thinks about what is happening in San Diego where public school teachers are providing in-person instruction at the San Diego Convention Center to migrant children before their own public school students and these kids, of course — about 130,000 of them — have been at home, doing online learning for about a year now. So, what does the White House think about that?” Fisher asked.
Psaki tried to jab at Fox News and said, “you guys have done a fair amount of reporting on this, so maybe you’ll have more details,” but that’s because she doesn’t have an answer.
San Diego schools are preparing for a partial reopening on April 12 that will still include online learning.
Fisher followed up with Psaki and asked, “[T]he question is, you know, does the White House think this sends the right message to these 130,000 kids in San Diego and their parents who have been stuck in the classroom?”
Psaki said that “context is important” and that students are on “spring break right now, so these teachers would be – I am not sure if it is volunteer or paid, you’d have to ask the local school district while the kids are on spring break.”
Psaki also was at a loss for words when she was asked by CNN’s Jeff Zeleny about their position over the WHO “findings” about the origins of the coronavirus.
Below is a partial transcript that is meant to be a layup for Psaki but she couldn’t give a straight answer.
ZELENY: Does President Biden believe that the millions of Americans who lost loved ones to COVID-19 deserve a better response than one that they’ve gotten from the WHO?
PSAKI: In terms of looking into —
ZELENY: Into the origins for COVID-19.
PSAKI: — well, I think he believes that the American people, the global community, the medical experts, the doctors, all of the people who’ve been working to save lives, the families who have lost loved ones, all deserve greater transparency. They deserve better information. They deserve steps that are taken by the global community to provide that, so there was an extensive statement put out by a number of countries, including the U.S. but let me highlight — and we’re still reviewing the report, but let me highlight some of the concerns that have come up to date. The report lacks crucial data, information, and access. It represents a partial and incomplete picture. There was a joint statement, as I noted that was put out. We also welcome a similar statement from the EU, and EU members sending a clear message that the global community shares these concerns. There are steps from here that we believe should be taken. There’s a second stage in this process that we believe should be led by international and independent experts. They should have unfettered access to data. They should be able to ask questions of people who are on the ground at this point in time And that’s a step that WHO could take.
