Tuesday during a late-afternoon Psaki Show, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy questioned the White House press secretary over calls for Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel to give full independence from the Biden White House to investigate First Son Hunter Biden and his life of corruption. Predictably, Psaki wanted nothing to do with this.
“A lot of stories about Hunter Biden surfacing this week. So, to ensure the independence of the investigation, would the President support the appointment of a special counsel,” Doocy asked.
Along with insisting the Department of Justice (DOJ) would make that call as they “make...decisions independently,” Psaki insisted the President has “abide[d] by” his campaign promise to not interfere with the DOJ and thus “has never had a conversation with [them] about any investigations into any member of his family.”
Doocy followed up by referencing comments from White House chief of staff and full-time Twitter resident Ron Klain to fellow leftists George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week:
Is there any concern that they’re not going to be necessarily seen as being able to make the decisions independently if the White House chief of staff is out saying that the President is confident his son did not break the law?
Psaki concurred, noting “that’s something the President has said and certainly we would echo.”
Before moving on, Doocy asked a slightly separate but even more monumental question that the U.S. Attorney in Delaware might know the answer to: “And the President has said that he never spoke to his son about his overseas business dealings. Is that still the case?”
Psaki was even more brief in her answer, keeping it to one word: “Yes.”
Sunday on his Fox News Channel program Life, Liberty, & Levin, best-selling author and longtime conservative talk radio icon Mark Levin made the case for a special counsel to take over (click “expand”):
Ladies and gentlemen, we need a Federal Special Counsel. We cannot leave it to Merrick Garland and the political appointees at the Department of Justice. This is why we have Special Counsels, an experienced, competent, independent Federal prosecutor who puts together a team, a Special Counsel Office to investigate Joe Biden his family, the dealings with Communist China, the dealings with Ukraine, the dealings with Russia, the dealings with Romania, the dealings with all of these governments.
Biden told a flat out lie as he often does that he knew nothing of his son’s business practices. We have witnesses, we have contemporary information, documents, a laptop, which has now been authenticated by The New York Times, so we know it’s accurate. We’ve got a ton of evidence that would trigger any investigation of a sitting President of the United States. We’ve not had one single hearing in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, as they’re chasing down paraders and trespassers on minor misdemeanors with the January 6 Committee.
We need a Biden crime family committee and we need one right now. We need to know what the hell is going on. Communist China is our biggest enemy, and they’re staring us down and it is my contention, we have a man in the Oval Office who is by all evidence, corrupt, bought off, and we need it now.
Prior to his Hunter Biden questions, Doocy followed up on what CBS’s Weijia Jiang had astutely observed, which was whether, in Jiang’s words, “anything...can be done to stop Putin now, in the immediate” given the White House’s insistence that sanctions take time to reach their intended affect.
When Psaki gave an answer of nothingness, Doocy followed up in wanting to know “how much time do you guys think that these innocent Ukrainians have” until Russia’s economy is so crippled it hampers their war efforts.
Psaki cited the levels of inflation and projected economic contraction hitting Russia and the “historic...military and security assistance” to Ukraine, so Doocy cut deeper in his second Russia question: “But do you guys assess that anything you’ve done so far has prevented a war crime from happening?”
The outgoing press secretary didn’t have a direct answer, so she instead claimed “everything we’re doing to date is to support the Ukrainians,” including Biden being “proud of...including rallying and leading the global community[.]”
To see the relevant transcript from April 5’s briefing, click “expand.”
White House press briefing [via CBSN]
April 5, 2022
4:13 p.m. EasternWEIJIA JIANG: It seems that you’ve also indicated that every sanctions package is not meant to be an on and off switch to stop Putin — that that will also take time. Is there anything that can be done to stop Putin now, in the immediate?
JEN PSAKI: Well, I would say first, on sanctions, we have a couple of objectives. One of them is to put consequences in place, put a marker down and make very clear it’s absolutely unacceptable, horrific, and there should be consequences. The second is to make it more difficult to fund the ongoing war and that is a very important component. And the question Phil asked earlier — about the bond payments and the bond payment that is due — is an example of that and the mechanisms we have through our economic resources to do exactly that. And the third is to make clear and make it evident to President Putin and Russian leadership in the world that he is a pariah, and now is — and will be held accountable and treated in that way on the global stage. But what we’re — what we feel is the most effective thing we can do now, in addition to that, is to continue to provide military assistance, security assistance, equipment on the ground. I would note, again, the Department of Defense announced a series of additional military pieces of equipment that they had not priv- — previously delivered that they were delivering to the ground and we are focusing that effort on ensuring it is equipment that the Ukrainians are trained on and that they have already been using effectively in this war to fight the Russians. Go ahead.
PETER DOOCY: And just to follow up on Weijia’s question, you guys are adding more sanctions, saying that the sanctions are going to take time to have an impact. How much time do you guys think that these innocent Ukrainians have?
PSAKI: Well, I think what’s important to note here is sanctions are just one component of the tools that we have at our disposal. What we are doing and we’re already seeing effectively happen is the financial system in Russia is near the brink of collapse. I mean, they’re projecting 15 percent inflation — a contraction of 15 percent — in their economy. Private sector businesses are pulling out of the country. It is more and more difficult for President Putin to fund this war every single day. That has an impact. But what we’re also doing is providing a historic amount of military and security assistance, which is what they’ve been using effectively over the last few weeks to fight this war and push back the Russians.
DOOCY: But do you guys assess that anything you’ve done so far has prevented a war crime from happening?
PSAKI: Well, Peter, I would say that everything we’re doing to date is to support the Ukrainians in this war and in this effort and that is something the President is proud of, we are proud of, including rallying and leading the global community and standing up against Russia.
DOOCY: Okay. On another topic: A lot of stories about Hunter Biden surfacing this week. So, to ensure the independence of the investigation, would the President support the appointment of a special counsel?
PSAKI: Well, first, the President has never had a conversation with the Department of Justice about any investigations into any member of his family. He said that during the campaign, and he will continue to abide by that. So, I would point you to the Department of Justice for any additional steps they would take. They would make those decisions independently.
DOOCY: Is there any concern that they’re not going to be necessarily seen as being able to make the decisions independently if the White House Chief of Staff is out saying that the President is confident his son did not break the law?
PSAKI: Well, that’s something the President has said and certainly we would echo. But in the same answer to that question, Peter — during an interview this week on ABC, Ron Klain also said the Justice Department is independent and they will make their own decisions.
DOOCY: And the President has said that he never spoke to his son about his overseas business dealings. Is that still the case?
PSAKI: Yes.
