Former Biden spox complains easy Trump press access influences 'giddy' reporters
Former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki claimed easy press access to President Donald Trump could influence how "giddy" reporters cover him.
On the "Pod Save America" Sunday, Psaki and host Dan Pfeiffer, a former Obama aide, discussed how easy it has been for reporters to speak with Trump on his personal phone. While Psaki said Trump interacting with the press was not bad "on its face," she took issue with how it could potentially "shade" interviews.
"I think the thing that is challenging or concerning, and it's hard to even monitor this really, is sometimes people, reporters, journalists talk to a president, and then they feel giddy about it, right?" Psaki said.
"They feel like, 'Oh, I can call Donald Trump and like I can talk to him, and he has given me all this access, and you know, he calls me and teases me about my interviews' or whatever it may be. And there's no way that doesn't shade how they report things or talk about them, even if it's not conscious," she continued.
Pfeiffer agreed, complaining that many reporters fail to take Trump "seriously" and can ignore him when he is lying.
"There is something that's uncomfortable with the breathless selfie videos reporters are taking, which is like, 'I just got off the phone with Trump and here's what he told me,' and it's like, well what's the context for that?" Pfeiffer said.
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Both Pfeiffer and Psaki also remarked on how Trump's behavior with the press would have given them extreme "agita" under former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Psaki went on to claim that it had caused chaos for the White House press team, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
"I don't even know what you would have done, but those type of things happen because they just want to please daddy, you know, and it's a crazy way to run a White House," Psaki said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Within Trump's first year back in office, the president took part in at least 433 open press events, including 156 press sprays, 13 general gaggles, 13 press conferences, 32 Marine One gaggles, 30 gaggles outside Air Force One, 41 gaggles while on the presidential plane and three formal press briefings, according to White House data.
By contrast, Biden participated in 53 press gaggles, 10 press conferences — including with foreign leaders — and 345 public events, often without media interactions. Biden also held fewer news conferences than any of his five immediate predecessors, as well as fewer media interviews than any recent president during his first year in office.