Washington, DC — Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today issued a statement concerning the release of closed-door testimony from Jen Psaki, the former White House Press Secretary. This additional transcript comprises the 13th of 18 total transcripts from closed-door transcribed interviews conducted as part of the Committee’s investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that Chairman McCaul has made publicly available at the request of Ranking Member Meeks.
“I thank Ms. Psaki for her voluntary testimony before the Committee last month. Her role as White House Press Secretary in the Biden Administration was to communicate U.S. policy and to prioritize transparency for the American people, and by any reasonable measure, she succeeded, providing more press briefings during her 15-month tenure than the Trump Administration held in four years.
“That Republicans are attempting to relitigate press briefings from three years ago, which have long been a matter of public record, shows their desperation to grab headlines in the absence of having uncovered any new facts. Republicans know how government works; they know that communications professionals rely on information provided to them by policymakers with access to a full range of sensitive, real-time information—a process Ms. Psaki reiterated throughout her interview. Nevertheless, Republicans spent hours of closed-door, taxpayer-funded, on-record testimony baselessly attacking Ms. Psaki for doing exactly what her role as Press Secretary required of her.
“I expect Chairman McCaul to fulfill his commitment to releasing all the Afghanistan-related closed-door interview transcripts. That commitment to transparency should be extended across all other oversight investigations he has led during this Congress, comprising at least 11 closed-door interview transcripts that the Republican majority has not made public to the American people.”
The full transcript can be found here. Notable findings from Ms. Psaki’s testimony include the following:
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Ms. Psaki’s testimony confirmed that she consistently provided the best available information at the time from the podium—information that was the result of a careful policymaking process in which she had no substantive role. (p. 12, lines 8-14; p. 75, line 2 through p. 76, line 22)
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She held more press briefings in her 15-month tenure than the prior Administration had held over its entire 4-year term, as part of a Biden Administration commitment to ensuring transparency. (p. 79, line 13 through p. 80, line 10)
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Ms. Psaki extensively described why she had confidence in the veracity of the information provided by policymakers—a confidence boosted by her own firsthand observations of the policymaking process as she sought up-to-date information in response to reporters’ questions. (p. 84, line 15 through p. 87, line 8)
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She described how deliberative policy processes in which differing views may be expressed are normal and healthy (p. 57, lines 1-18) and that it is not uncommon for information—from policymakers and subsequently from the podium—to change over time in fluid situations. (p. 57, line 23 through p. 58, line 13).
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She explained the potential harm if communications officials like herself were to run their own separate process to fact-check every piece of policy information they received—since she did not have the same access to information that officials in policymaking channels did. (p. 182, line 9 through 184, line 3)
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And Ms. Psaki’s testimony was crystal clear that President Biden is an empathetic leader who seeks to connect with individuals who have experienced loss. (p. 133, line 12 through p. 134, line 12)