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Jen Psaki Gives Epically Blunt Answer To Whether Trump Deserves Credit For Vaccine Rollout
For four years, they took credit for the economy they were handed by former Democratic President Barack Obama.
Now, officials from the administration of former Republican President Donald Trump are attempting to take credit for Democratic President Joe Biden's vaccine rollout.
And Press Secretary Jen Psaki isn't having it.
Asked during a briefing how much credit the Trump Administration should get for the Biden Administration's successful vaccination efforts, Psaki gave a pointed and blunt answer.
Psaki's to-the-point exchange began with a reporter stating the Biden Administration is following some of the same procedures originally laid out by the Trump administration.
Seeming to sense immediately where this was leading, Psaki challenged the very premise.
In response, she asked the reporter:
"Which ones are we following?"
Unfazed, the reporter forged ahead with her line of questioning.
Specifically, the reporter asked Psaki about recent comments from Admiral Brett Giroir, former assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. In a tweet late last month, Giroir expressed exasperation with the idea the Biden Administration "inherited a... mess."
Giroir went on to lay Biden's success solely at Trump's feet, saying Biden is only following plans already laid out in Trump's Operation Warp Speed.
Asked by the reporter about whether the Trump Administration deserves credit for "laying some of the groundwork" as Giroir claimed, Psaki shot her down with a single, pointed sentence.
"I don't think anyone deserves credit when half a million people in the country have died of this pandemic."
Psaki went on to address what has become a signature failing of the Trump administration's vaccine response—lack of supply and distribution.
"What our focus is on, and what the president's focus is on when he came into office just over a month ago, was ensuring that we had enough vaccines -- we are going to have them now."
On Twitter, many people were firmly on Psaki's side.
Recent statistics show Psaki had good reason to reject Giroir and the reporter's premise. In the time since Biden took office, the U.S. daily average of vaccinations has more than doubled, from 900,000 to 2 million per day.