Amid the Biden administration's disastrous withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, White House press secretary Jen Psaki went two days without a daily White House press briefing, with the Department of Defense giving daily updates on developments in the region instead.
Trump's former White House press secretary turned Fox News contributor, Kayleigh McEnany, lambasted Psaki for skipping two briefings.
Watch below.
McEnany said:
"Jen Psaki promised us a daily White House press briefing. There isn't one today. There wasn't one Monday. When the going gets tough, the daily press briefing that she promised goes out the window."
Under former President Donald Trump—McEnany's onetime boss—the tradition of daily White House press briefings gradually evaporated until no one expected them at all. Trump's second press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, went more than six months without a daily briefing. Her successor, Stephanie Grisham, served for more than a year without ever holding one at all.
When McEnany took over, she briefly revived the tradition before going long stretches without a daily briefing yet again. Between October 1 and November 20—as Trump lost the 2020 election then proceeded to falsely claim it was "stolen" from him—McEnany held no briefings at all.
What's more, McEnany did away with using the briefing room as an opportunity to update Americans on what the administration was doing, instead using the pressers as a state-sponsored campaign ad.
So people were amazed at the hypocrisy on display when McEnany slammed Psaki for missing two days.
Took me a while to stop laughing at the irony when I first read this... made my day. Thanks.— Iain (@Iain) 1629405605
Not from The Onion— I'm Just A Girl (@I'm Just A Girl) 1629425122
Wait who? She said what? pic.twitter.com/pEw0GSWUk4— Nicole \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf9 (@Nicole \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf9) 1629405976
Irony keeps dying a thousand deaths and chutzpah keeps bringing it.https://apple.news/A1RVfcOY6QQWONUDTfRfQWA\u00a0\u2026— Peter Kaufman (@Peter Kaufman) 1629401154
McEnany rips Psaki for not holding daily briefings during Afghanistan crisis \n\nHow many weeks did the previous administration NEVER gave press briefings on anything. Covid19, 2 impeachments, insurrection and school shootings were all ignored.https://www.foxnews.com/media/mcenany-psaki-briefings-afghanistan-crisis\u00a0\u2026— RedeyeVotesBLUE (@RedeyeVotesBLUE) 1629460963
Reminder that the Trump administration went > 400 days -- including the start of the pandemic -- without the press secretary holding a formal briefing. I'd say that the pandemic was more important to most Americans than Afghanistan.https://www.foxnews.com/media/mcenany-psaki-briefings-afghanistan-crisis\u00a0\u2026— Matthew Bey (@Matthew Bey) 1629459960
Others could only laugh.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha\u2026 deep inhale, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagag, cough, cough, cough\u2026— Dale Beasse (@Dale Beasse) 1629407044
pic.twitter.com/1uOa9P3hW4— Rita Campos (@Rita Campos) 1629405419
Bwhahahahahahahahahahahah Bwhahahahahahahahahahahah BwhahahahahahahahahahahahBwhahahahahahahahahahahah bwhahahahahahahahahahahaha Bwhahahahahahahahahahahah— Hatty\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Hatty\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1629407611
Can you blame them?
@vanessa_p_44/TikTok
@vanessa_p_44/TikTok
@vanessa_p_44/TikTok
@vanessa_p_44/TikTok
@vanessa_p_44/TikTok
@GovPressOffice/X
@GovPressOffice/X
@GovPressOffice/X
@GovPressOffice/X