Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, conducted the first press conference under President Biden’s government on Wednesday and promised to bring “truth and transparency back to the conference room”.
Psaki’s appearance in the White House pulpit just hours after Biden’s inauguration was designed to draw a stark contrast to the previous government, which fought a verbal battle with reporters and practically abandoned instructions.
Unlike Sean Spicer, Trump’s first press secretary, who attacked the media and lied about the size of Trump’s inaugural crowd during his first appearance in the boardroom, Ms. Psaki was involved in a widely civilized information exchange with reporters.
“There will be times when we will disagree, and there will certainly be days when we will disagree in extensive parts of the briefing, perhaps,” she told about a dozen journalists in the room. “But we have a common goal, which is to share accurate information with the American people.”
Ms. Psaki, a Connecticut native, worked for a Capitol veteran in the John Kerry presidential campaign in 2004 and the Obama campaigns in 2008 and 2012.
During Obama’s second term, Ms. Psaki served as chief spokesman for the State Department, and was then placed second in the White House press secretary when Jay Carney left the White House and was succeeded by Josh Earnest in 2014. She was Mr. Obama’s Chief Communication Officer until the end of his term.
Psaki, 42, was a surprise choice to serve as Biden’s main spokesperson; she did not work on his campaign, instead he worked as a commentator for CNN and for private public relations clients. But Biden’s familiarity with her during the Obama administration outweighed any advantage for others who helped him win the elections.
Ms. Psaki started the briefing with a summary of the executive orders that Biden signed earlier in the evening. She then answered a series of questions, including information about planned links between Mr. Biden and foreign leaders and a question about the government’s response to a recent cyber attack.
Ms. Psaki called Zeke Miller, a reporter for The Associated Press, to ask the first question. The move was a return to the boardroom tradition – allowing the news service the first question – that the Trump administration had abandoned.
For reporters and others familiar with news briefings before the Trump administration, his briefing was extraordinarily normal.
“We reserve the right to respond at the time of our choice to any cyber attack,” said Ms. Psaki. “But our team, of course, is just getting started today, they are just getting into their computers. Therefore, I have nothing to read to you or to predict for you at this time. “