White House press secretary Jen Psaki appeared on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace over the weekend, and faced a series of direct, pressing questions from Wallace over the Biden administration’s lack of transparency at the border.
After playing a clip of President Biden’s press conference last week where he told reporters that they would have “full access to everything” at the border “once we get this thing moving.” Biden was asked to specify when that would be, and responded, “I don’t know.”
Wallace pressed Psaki on that response.
“The only way we know how bad conditions are for some 5,000 minors in his Border Patrol facilities is because of these pictures that members of Congress have released on their own,” Wallace said. “Jen, these kids are living in these conditions now. They’re not living in these conditions some indeterminate time from now when the president says everything will be fixed. So why not allow reporters and camera crews in on a pool basis safely to take pictures and show the American people what’s happening in those Border Patrol facilities right now?”
Psaki reiterated that the administration was “absolutely committed” to the cause of transparency but would only specify it would happen “as soon as we can.” Wallace seemed unimpressed.
“At this point, in terms of allowing access to Border Patrol facilities for reporters, you are being less transparent than the Trump administration,” Wallace indicted.
