On Thursday (11), President Joe Biden gave a prime-Time speech to mark the first anniversary of the Communist China virus (COVID-19) pandemic. Some key words were omitted from the speech, including “China” and “Operation Warp Speed. The White House press secretary was repeatedly asked by reporters why Trump was not given credit for his vaccine work.
At Friday’s White House press briefing, NBC’s White House correspondent Peter Alexander asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki why the Biden Administration did not give former President Donald Trump credit for his vaccine work, since vaccines were introduced under the Trump Administration‘s “Operation Speedy” was developed quickly by the Trump administration.
“Sure, he (Biden) spends a lot of time touting the success of the vaccine, but he doesn’t mention under which president’s administration the vaccine was developed,” Alexander asked, “Doesn’t former President Trump deserve credit for the vaccine issue?”
Psaki said the administration has “communicated” that the progress made on these vaccines “was a tremendous effort by scientific and medical experts. She also said there are “clear” differences and “steps that have been taken” since Biden took office, but still did not add Trump and his administration to the list of praise.
“Leadership starts at the top,” Psaki continued, and that includes wearing masks, it includes acknowledging that there is an Epidemic, it includes vaccinating in public, but more important than that is developing an operational process.
“None of that was in place when President Biden took office,” Psaki stressed. She took an obvious dig at Trump.
Alexander responded that while Psaki had a point, the vaccine was developed under “Operation Extreme” and was “proposed, implemented” and “initiated” under Trump’s leadership. Alexander said Biden could have delivered another version of the speech in a spirit of bipartisan unity.
“Why not just say, ‘This goes to the last administration and the former president who put us in this position. We’re glad we were able to move it forward,'” Alexander continued, pressing the issue.
Psaki first praised Alexander’s speech-writing skills, but then reiterated her earlier comments, adding that Biden has given credit to the previous administration in the past and that the purpose of Thursday’s speech was to give an update on the Biden administration’s progress on the outbreak.
Alexander did not let up, continuing to press and pointing out that Biden said the speech was also meant to “bring all Americans together.
Psaki argued, “Of course it is, but what I’m saying is that Americans are looking for facts, they’re looking for details, they’re looking for specifics, and I don’t think they’re too worried about the praise that was given six months ago when the president had already made those public statements.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) criticized Biden’s speech on Friday’s Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” about the Chinese Communist Party‘s viral outbreak, noting that Biden was not condemning the Communist Party, but rather denigrating “Operation Extreme Velocity.
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