Psaki reacts to Leavitt stepping down from being WH press secretary

[0:00] We want to bring in the host of The Briefing, Jen Psaki. She joins us here, Jen. Thank you so [0:04] much for being here. It's great to be. First of all, as someone who has been on the receiving [0:09] end of some relentless Peter Alexander grilling, I'm very happy you're here. I think that's needed [0:15] in this moment and will definitely be needed as we look ahead to a huge primary in 2020. [0:19] I'm grateful for your saying that. My favorite moments were when you would call on me and your [0:23] eyes would start to go like this. Like, where are we going to go with this? It was always a tell. [0:26] I get to do it again right now. Let me ask you some questions. You were the former White [0:29] House Press Secretary. The current White House Press Secretary, Caroline Levitt, has just [0:35] announced that she's going to be departing. She'll leave at the end of the month. She [0:38] just had a second baby. She wants more time, she has said, with her family here. In your [0:42] book, the first rule that you wrote for a press secretary is don't lie. Is it possible to serve [0:49] as a press secretary to Donald Trump and maintain that rule? No, because you have an audience [0:54] of one. Donald Trump is her audience. He clearly loves her, as far as we know. [0:59] She is very good at commanding that room, though I will say, as you know well, the room has [1:05] massively changed since I was there. It's much more filled with people who are there to kind [1:11] of applaud Donald Trump and people who are there to spit out the Republican-given talking [1:16] points than the room that I was working in. Let me say one thing about her, though. I was [1:22] the communications director when I had a baby. It is very hard to do that. And she has a toddler, [1:28] and she just had a newborn. I don't know her. I don't know all of the reasons, but I certainly [1:32] understand the difficulty of trying to balance those things. [1:35] You talk about the changes in the White House briefing room. I witnessed these firsthand, [1:38] having been there for Obama, then Trump, then Biden, then Trump again. There are a lot more [1:41] sort of friendlies, as they're sometimes described, those people who support the president's view as [1:46] opposed to view themselves as an independent journalist. What is the risk of the sort of changing [1:50] system in the way the president relates to the press and those people who are invited into the room? [1:54] Well, I think if you're watching the briefing, and most Americans are not watching the totality [1:59] of the briefing. [2:00] But even in the Oval Office, frankly, [2:01] Or in the Oval Office, in both places. Look, I think, first of all, as you know well, [2:05] but for anybody watching, there's still excellent journalists who are there to grill the White [2:09] House, no matter who the press secretary is and who the president is, in the room. It's just that [2:14] they are a smaller percentage of people in the room. And what is difficult, if you're a viewer [2:18] watching the briefing or clips of it or watching the president be questioned in the Oval Office, [2:22] is you don't know how to differentiate. How do you know who these people are? Is it Marjorie [2:26] Taylor Greene's boyfriend, who is literally, or now husband, who is literally one of the people [2:30] asking questions about Trump's fitness, physical fitness? [2:34] Sean Spicer, a former White House press secretary, was sometimes in the room [2:37] asking the new press secretary questions. [2:38] Exactly. And it becomes a larger percentage of the questions asked in the room. So therefore, [2:44] people are not getting actual transparent information, or they're not able to rely on the [2:50] journalists who are in the room to ask the questions that need to be asked. [2:53] Let me ask you about the backdrop to this conversation. Earlier this week, we learned [2:56] about this situation overseas in Turkey, where the president changed from Air Force One to a smaller [3:01] government plane. Ultimately, it becomes Air Force One because he's on it. But the reporters [3:05] and many members of the staff who were still on that decoy plane didn't know they were on a plane [3:10] that was apparently being threatened by the Iranians. At that time, a day later, basically, [3:16] we learned that Caroline Levitt is leaving. Just your gut on this and also isn't one that your [3:21] responsibility is not just to the president, it's to the people, right? Like you were an advocate for [3:25] the press in that building as well, are you? You are. I mean, you work for the president. [3:29] George Bush bought brought press with him on 9-11 to the undisclosed location. They were on Air Force [3:34] One, even on that terrible. Yes. And every president has brought press to war zones. Every single [3:39] president has. President Clinton also had a moment where he had to switch planes. They included the press in [3:44] that discussion. There is a long history here of the White House and the Defense Department, [3:49] the State Department having conversations with major news organizations, major media, [3:54] major networks, but also wire services and saying the president is going to be traveling to Iraq or [3:59] Afghanistan or Pakistan or a country we can't announce in advance he's going. And you know what [4:04] these outlets do? They respect that. There's an embargo, which means that it's not reported until [4:08] everybody involved is safe. They tell nobody. They show up at Joint Base Andrews and then they fly with [4:13] the president, report it out as they would, as appropriate, when allowed and return home. [4:16] Yeah. And of course, the Secret Service should take steps to make sure any president is safe, [4:20] although there has been reporting now from The Washington Post questioning whether this was an [4:25] actual threat. But presidents can come back to the Secret Service. And this is what President [4:29] Clinton did and say, I need a different plan. I need a plan where I can tell my staff and I can tell [4:35] the press and trust that they're not going to share. That's not what he did. And he would have kept it [4:39] secret had it not been reported out. Or famously, Stephanie Grisham, who you may remember, [4:43] was one of the press secretaries in the first term, sort of body blocked the North Korean [4:47] security guards to allow the press into the room. And it's one of the responsibilities that comes with [4:52] a job. We were talking about Iran. Let me ask you about the situation with Iran right now. We've [4:56] seen the president's tone on Iran change in recent days, low-keying it, he says, where he may be [5:00] leaning further into this idea of economic pressure. The president on, by my count, six, maybe seven times, [5:06] has had these sort of apocalyptic threats of World War III and these attacks on Iran and then has [5:12] backed away at the last minute. What does that do to the credibility? You're a communicator. What [5:18] does that do to the credibility of the president, of the U.S., when you deliver a warning like that so [5:23] many times and consistently back away from it? Well, look, I think a big part of his audience is [5:28] obviously the American public. He's saying there's control of the Strait of Hormuz. That's not accurate. [5:34] Anybody knows it's not accurate because there's a blockade currently. There are a limited number [5:39] of ships that are going through. It's not working as it should be working. And we're headed toward a [5:44] place where the status quo of nobody getting paid to have ships go through is going to change in all [5:50] likelihood. So people know that. But I also think if you're consuming what he's telling the public [5:55] right now, you also are seeing reporting at the same time of soldiers who have been stationed there [6:01] right near the Strait of Hormuz for months and months and months who aren't getting the food [6:05] they need to get. There's been reporting about some of them jumping over the ship because they're [6:10] depressed. That is people have eyes. They have ears. They're consuming information. [6:15] He does not have any credibility on the war with Iran. He clearly doesn't have a plan, [6:19] but he didn't have a plan for why to go in. This is why presidents before him decided not to do what [6:25] he has done. I want to pivot. There's a recent headline, of course. Todd Blanche, [6:28] in his first day, announced this new legal memo that basically would protect the president's [6:33] communications with private advisors, not just those who work for the government, but other [6:38] outside individuals. There's the potential if Democrats take over the House, there'll be a lot [6:43] of investigations that would protect a lot of the conversations the president's happening. [6:47] Why is it so problematic for those conversations to be protected with a non-government individual? [6:53] Well, first of all, a question I hope somebody is asking the White House right now is how are you [6:57] defining or the Justice Department private advisors? Because this is a key thing. [7:02] First of all, if conversations between Steve Bannon and the president are covered by this, [7:09] I think there's an issue with that, too, because presidents, there are reasons why the public should [7:15] have access to information. But with this particular president, this is a guy. Is he going to say Jeff [7:20] Bezos is an advisor who should be covered by this? Is he going to say Jeff Bezos, if you give a little [7:25] bit of money to my rehab of the East Wing, then we're going to give you a special government contract? [7:30] Or a member of his family who controls some of his or a member of his family or one of his sons. [7:35] These are things we have seen occur. There are a lot of things to poke about this. I certainly hope [7:42] people are going to continue poking that. But the reason why there should be concern here is the [7:47] potential for rampant corruption. Todd Blanche spoke in the last 45 minutes. Let's listen to [7:51] what he said there about his mission. I promise you that I will focus on our core mission, which [7:59] is to uphold the rule of law fairly and impartially to keep this great country safe and to protect the [8:07] rights of every citizen in this country. Speaking of DOJ staffers there, does he come in with [8:14] credibility before those? A lot of whom are not political figures, are those who have come from [8:18] one administration to the next? I would suggest anyone pull up on social media the clap in [8:24] Merrick Garland and Todd Blanche and just compare the two. And there are legitimate critiques of [8:32] Merrick Garland. But I think Todd Blanche, you could see the discomfort of career Department of Justice [8:39] employees. And remember, these are people who, many of whom have served decades working for Republican [8:45] and Democratic presidents. They have never seen the kind of intervention and overlording from the White [8:52] House that is happening right now. That is a natural source of discomfort. If you are a Department of [8:58] Justice lawyer, this is a man who sees his primary job as being the lawyer to the president and not the [9:03] lawyer for the United States. And that's very uncomfortable if you're working there. [9:06] You're going to talk to Senator Mark Kelly a little bit later this evening. He is in Iowa right now. [9:10] Your spidey sense as you watch this, there's a lot at stake in Iowa right now. Iowa has changed. [9:15] You've been a part of many different administrations. But in particular, as it relates to Iowa, all of a [9:20] sudden, it looks like it may be a little bit more blue than has felt in recent months and years. [9:24] It certainly does. First of all, I mean, my other my old boss, Barack Obama, did an ad with Josh [9:29] Turek, who's running for Senate, which tells you something because that guy's quite selective, [9:33] as any former president is, about who he's going to do campaigning with. [9:37] Iowa. Remember, Barack Obama won it in 2008 and 2012. It's become quite red since then. [9:42] A lot has also changed. The issues that have been prominent for the Trump administration, [9:46] putting tariffs in place, getting rid of rural hospitals. Those are big issues that impact a [9:51] state like Iowa. Rob Sand is running, as you just are showing on your screen right now for governor. [9:56] He's currently ahead. He's running on waste, fraud and abuse, which is phrasing that you often hear [10:01] more from Republicans. And he could quite well become the first Democratic governor in quite some time, [10:07] in that. You talk about last question. You talk about waste, fraud and abuse. I just want to get [10:10] again. You are a seasoned messenger. That's what your responsibility and what your skill set [10:14] is. The president has now, according to The Washington Post, spent or plans to spend nine [10:19] hundred million dollars on construction projects, the fountains, the statues with gold plating over [10:24] them right now. How do you for for a Republican community administration that sells itself as being [10:31] fiscally conservative? How do you message that to Americans? [10:36] You can't. They are in an incredibly difficult position. You've you've heard private complaints. [10:42] I wish more of them would say it publicly if they felt that way about this. This is one of the things [10:46] that you hear a lot of complaining from Republicans about for a couple of reasons. One is some of this [10:52] is taxpayer money, as we know. Taxpayers don't like that, including taxpayers who are in red states. [10:57] Another reason is that some of this is from donors. We don't know who these donors are. It's not [11:03] disclosed. What are they getting in exchange? We don't know the answer to that. And the third reason [11:07] is that it is not even being done efficiently. If you're in the business community and the president [11:11] of the United States is giving out all these no bid contracts, which is what most of this is being [11:15] done with. Those are not cost effective. They're much more expensive. They're bloated and often they [11:21] don't get the job done. So a lot of reasons to be pissed off here if you're a Republican. [11:24] To be fair, most of that money is your money, is the American people's. Yeah, sure. Jen Psaki, [11:29] it's nice to see you. Great to see you. We should do this more often. Sure thing. We will. We'll take [11:32] it back to the briefing room. And be sure to catch the briefing tonight at nine o'clock Eastern. As we [11:37] noted, Senator Mark Kelly is going to join Jen fresh off headlining the annual Democratic [11:41] Wingding fundraiser that is in Iowa tonight.