White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is drawing applause online after she slapped down a query from a conservative reporter implying that China deliberately caused the pandemic.
Psaki had very little time for a New York Post reporter who asked whether Democratic President Joe Biden would follow through on former Republican President Donald Trump's demands that China pay reparations for "letting" the virus escape.
Psaki gave the reporter a simple four-word answer, and when he tried to rephrase the question, she shut him right down. Watch the moment below.
Jen Psaki has little patience for a New York Post reporter who asks her about Trump's comments about China and Covid reparations, and whether Biden thinks there should be an independent investigation into Tara Reade's allegationspic.twitter.com/1O05Cb5N6f— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1628098022
The New York Post, which has been openly pro-Trump throughout the former President's political tenure, has repeatedly published stories and op-eds calling for punishment of China for supposedly allowing the virus to escape and causing the pandemic.
In his question, Post reporter Steven Nelson cited recent remarks from Trump at a Wisconsin rally in which he called upon China to pay reparations to the United States.
Nelson asked Psaki:
"Former President Trump has called for China to pay the United States more than $10 trillion in reparations as a result of letting the coronavirus escape Wuhan and infect other countries..."
"President Biden hasn't called for reparations from China. Does he support them? Does he think that China should pay us financially for what it has allowed to spread?"
Psaki wasted no time slapping down the question. She replied simply:
"Our policy hasn't changed."
And when Nelson attempted to rephrase the query, Psaki interrupted even more pointedly.
"Did you have another question?"
The New York Post, along with many other conservative media outlets, has repeatedly called upon Biden to exact financial retribution on China for the pandemic.
The Biden Administration has not committed to doing so. Rather, Biden called upon U.S. intelligence agencies on May 26 to intensify investigations into how the virus emerged and to report back within 90 days.
Their investigation includes looking into the so-called "lab leak" theory, which posits that the virus was released, either purposefully or accidentally, from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. Conservative media has repeatedly pushed the theory, often as fact and frequently with racist and xenophobic overtones, despite the lack of hard evidence and the fact that investigations into the matter by both the U.S. and the World Health Organization have yet to be completed.
On Twitter, people applauded Psaki for not indulging the question, and condemned the reporter for trafficking in unproven conspiracy theories.
Trump thought that injecting bleach into the lungs was also a viable proposition.\n\nMove on.— Jay Lionel (@Jay Lionel) 1628098145
Maybe time to bar bad faith far-right political actors from NY Post, Fox, OANN from the WH press briefing and stop treating them as legitimate press corps...— T_Bo (@T_Bo) 1628098692
pic.twitter.com/rZHEYAi0WF— Bond, James Bond. (@Bond, James Bond.) 1628098158
Cant imagine frittering away my young career carrying such rancid water.— Matt Mitovich (@Matt Mitovich) 1628098252
I wonder when these people will understand \n1) @PressSec won't take the bait and \n2) they will look foolish with no empathy coming from us.\n\nShe shows us (again and again) the class & professionalism that was missing in the last administration. (Yes, memory serves us well!)— cd (@cd) 1628099348
New York Post ... "reporter".— Steve Mitchell \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 (@Steve Mitchell \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7) 1628102953
He is so nervous asking those questions Very awkward.— Edwin Colebunders (@Edwin Colebunders) 1628098149
God, I love her. "Did you have a second question?"— Dr. Ohm \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2 (@Dr. Ohm \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2) 1628099939
Sounds like this guy is taking up where Doocy left off. Will they never learn that Psaki can get the best of them.— Lucy (@Lucy) 1628115218
Glad she snapped that down. Love the laughter when she just said do you have another question— Animal of politics (@Animal of politics) 1628106305
While there is some thin evidence that the virus could have been released from a lab, and the scientific community has not ruled out the possibility of a "lab leak" from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, most scientists agree that the most likely explanation for the virus is that it emerged naturally from an animal host.
