MSNBC host and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted in a new interview that she had never seen signs of former President Joe Biden rejecting while working for him.
"I've never seen that guy, not once, I'm in the Oval Office every day, that's at that debate stage," Psaki said in the Mixed Signal podcast. He quit the following month and recognized Vice President Kamala Harris as a Democratic candidate.
"I'm not a doctor. Aging happens quickly," Psaki added in a Semafor podcast released on Friday.
The former Biden aide who left the White House in May 2022 said she had not seen him in person after two and a half years.
Jen Psaki said Joe Biden, who was in the presidential debate stage last June, was not the same as Joe Biden, who worked at the White House in 2021 and 2022. (Getty Image)
Jen Psaki recalls the debate over Biden, the “heartbreaking” summer’s reaction before exiting in 2024: “I was thinking, how is he?”
But she warned not to use the term “cover” to describe the White House’s response to the president’s age during that time.
"'Covering' is a very heavy term," Psaki said, adding that people usually use the expression when talking about crime.
She continued: “People use the term has to do with Watergate. “I think it’s a little dangerous. ”
When asked about the press covering “very big stories” about the president’s health, Psaki was also reluctant to criticize the media.
Then-President Joe Biden spoke at an event in Rocky Mount, North Carolina on June 9, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Former CNN analyst says media turn a blind eye to Biden’s so-called decline because most “vote for Democrats”
"Maybe the media missed a lot," she said, "It's easier to look back at the past criticism of news reports. “There are major stories and moments that have been missed.”
Axios journalist Alex Thompson used a speech at a White House reporter's dinner on Saturday, saying the gathering media "should do better" to make up for Biden's decline.
Psaki suggests one of the reasons why they may be reluctant to report these problems.
"While we know what's wrong with the moment in 2023 and 2024, the right and Republicans have made radical full-thrust pitching operations from Joe Biden's age and his decline, and from 2019 to 2022, most people aren't right."
The right-wing effort, she said, “has worked.”
Click here for more media and cultural coverage
Former President Joe Biden's age and mental health problems have caused him to withdraw from the 2024 game. (Getty Image)
Psaki lamented how Biden’s legacy would be stained by how the 2024 game was and brought his fitness issues to the forefront. Her successor to press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre often refuted questions about Biden’s age and criticized his seemingly confused “cheap fakes.”
Psaki will play a more prominent role on MSNBC, starting next week at 9pm on Tuesday on Friday, with the show "Briefing." The top rated MSNBC host Rachel Maddow will host five nights a week at 9pm for the first 100 days of the Trump administration, and he will return to the radio only on Monday night.
Psaki's comments come after several Bombshell books were released, thus allowing insiders to look at the 2024 presidential campaign.
Click here to get the Fox News app
In author Chris Whipple's book The Unknown , he argued that Biden's inner circle "despite evidence that Biden can serve another term.