On 5/13/2022, White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s final briefing with reporters went off the rails, chaos erupted in the press briefing room after one reporter repeatedly shouted a question about fair access in the room. First she fought back tears and thanked members of the administration and the press corps. As Psaki began to take questions, Simon Ateba, the chief White House correspondent for Today News Africa, was heard yelling from the back of the press briefing room. “Why don’t you take questions from across the room?” Ateba asked as Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller attempted to get things started with a query about the ongoing baby formula shortage.

“Why don’t you take questions from across the room? Because that’s not what you’ve done for the past 15 months,” Ateba shouted again. Psaki was not initially fazed by Ateba’s lack of decorum. However, the reporter shouted over his colleagues again minutes later.

“Jen, can I ask you a question from the back?” he was heard saying. “Jen, can I ask you a question from the back?” As Ateba continued to speak over reporters in the front row who attempted to question Psaki, NPR’s Tamara Keith turned around and urged him to desist. “Simon, please stop,” ABC’s Mary Bruce said.

Ateba did not oblige and continued to shout over other reporters in the room, until Psaki jumped in and scolded Simon Ateba again as he interrupted Mary Bruce. “Simon, if you could respect your colleagues and other media reporters in here, that would be greatly appreciated. Go ahead, Mary,” she said. Psaki has been criticized in the past for strictly sticking to answering questions from reporters in the first few rows of the briefing room, often missing out on questions from outlets such as The Post, the Washington Examiner etc.

Psaki said President Biden is “clear-eyed” that the buck stops with him, so you wonder why he blames everyone else? Psaki claimed President Biden has worked every day to address nationwide baby formula shortage. She also said “it’s hard for us to make an assessment” about how long President Biden baby formula shortage persists.

Psaki wasn’t any more help at her final press briefing when asked how long the shortages were expected to be an issue. “Really important question, but hard for us to make an assessment,’’ she said, adding that the administration is still weighing whether to enact the emergency Defense Production Act to increase supplies. Psaki was later asked what, if anything, the administration regretted in its handling of the debacle — and again danced around answering the question. “Hindsight is always 20:20,” she said.

Psaki was also pushed on complaints from Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) that the White House is “sending pallets, pallets of baby formula to the border.” Psaki cited the Flores Settlement Agreement, which imposes basic standards of care for and release of immigrant children. “We also think it’s morally the right thing to do,” she said. “It is the law. But we believe that when children and babies, or babies I should say, are crossing the border with a family member, that providing them formula is morally right. And so, we certainly support the implementation of it.”

https://facebook.com/HygoNewsUSA/videos/697350801478554/
Psaki’s final briefing chaos, reporter heckles. Biden “clear-eyed” buck stops with him. Biden worked every day formula shortage.