Jen Psaki Says Her Joe Biden Watch Claim Will Be Removed From Book
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday a disproved detail about President Joe Biden at a ceremony for fallen soldiers that’s in her new book will be removed in future reprints.
Psaki, now an MSNBC commentator, wrote in “Say More” that critics of the president alleged he checked his watch multiple times at Dover Air Force Base in August 2021 in an effort to sully his caring reputation. The allegations tried to make him “appear insensitive, concerned only about how much time had passed,” she wrote. She asserted that “he looked at his watch only after the ceremony had ended.”
But a report by Axios citing “contradicting news photos and firsthand accounts of Gold Star families” buttressed an earlier fact check by Snopes that Biden did check his watch several times.
The president was overseeing the transfer of remains of American troops killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.
After originally declining comment, Psaki told Axios the “detail in a few lines of the book about the exact number of times he looked at his watch will be removed in future reprints and the ebook.”
“The story on Afghanistan is really about the importance of delivering feedback even when it is difficult told through my own experience of telling President Biden that his own story of loss was not well received by the families who were grieving their sons and daughters,” she continued in the statement.
Psaki’s walk-back follows scrutiny over alleged falsehoods written by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in her new book. The GOP vice presidential hopeful has been dogged by a dubious claim that she met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The publisher said it was removing the passage from reprints of “No Going Back” at Noem’s request, and from the ebook and audiobook editions as soon as possible.
