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The White House continued to punt on President Biden’s response to the impeachment of his predecessor on Wednesday – even as the proceedings played out on Capitol Hill – and instead tried to focus on the Biden administration’s agenda.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki fielded numerous questions about former President Trump’s trial during a press briefing Wednesday, but again refused to weigh in, pivoting to Biden’s previous comments on the Capitol attack.
“It may seem like some time ago, but the President has spoken repeatedly to the events of January 6,” Psaki said to a reporter who asked for reaction to the powerful video montage that impeachment managers showed on Tuesday.
“On January 6, he called the insurrection of the Capitol an unprecedented assault on a democracy, bordering on sedition,” she continued, listing several other comments that Biden made publicly. “He has certainly not been silent.”
Asked later if the lack of new comment should be read as the President not being invested in the outcome of the trial, Psaki responded, “the American public should read it as his commitment to delivering on exactly what they elected him to do, which is not to be a commentator on the daily developments of an impeachment trial, but to push forward an American rescue plan that will put people back to – that will ensure people are back to work with the assistance they need, get shots in arms, reopen schools.”
“That's what they asked him to do, and that's what he's focused on doing every day,” she added.
Psaki had announced earlier in the briefing that Biden would be giving remarks on the coup in Burma later on Wednesday, and was pressed by a reporter on if the Jan. 6 attack was also a coup.
“I’m not going to give any new definitions,” she said. “I appreciate your creativity though.”