Jen Psaki Claims Biden Never Looked At Watch, Suggests Gold Star Parents Lied

You know it’s bad when Axios is calling out Jen Psaki for lying about President Biden checking his watch during a ceremony for soldiers killed during the botched 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.

In her new book, “Say More,” the former White House press secretary claims that Biden looked at his watch only after the ceremony had ended, contradicting fact-checks (even Snopes) and on-the-record statements from Gold Star families who were there.

Psaki says Biden critics were engaged in “misinformation” and used the image to make “him appear insensitive, concerned only about how much time had passed.”

The Associated Press photographer on the tarmac snapped two photos of Biden looking at his watch twice and 10 minutes apart, as fact-checkers at USA Today and Snopes noted soon afterward. –Axios

Psaki also ‘mistakenly cited’ a passage from the Washington Post to reinforce her lie – when what she quoted was actually from USA Today‘s fact check article, not the post. The fact check noted that Biden looked at his watch at the end of the ceremony, but also concluded that “photos and video show [Biden] also checked his watch during the ceremony.”

More via Axios:

Many family members of the 13 soldiers killed during the explosion at the Abbey Gate base in Kabul have consistently said in interviews and appearances before Congress that Biden checked his watch as the caskets went by.

• Mark Schmitz, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, told Congress in August of 2023 that “while I stood there on the tarmac watching you check your watch over and over again, all I wanted to do was shout out, ‘It’s two f***ing thirty, asshole.’ “
• The day after the ceremony on Aug. 29, 2021, Shana Chappell, the mother of Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, wrote on Facebook: “I watched you disrespect us all 5 different times by checking your watch!!! What the f*** was so important that you had to keep looking at your watch????“

.@jrpsaki I’ve spoke to these parents.

Calling Gold Star families liars – even when there’s photographic proof – is a pathetic partisan attempt to defend your boss and a bad look. https://t.co/XoZi6VTETX

— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) May 13, 2024

Psaki Responds

While initially declining to comment, Psaki told Axios that the “detail in a few lines of the book about the exact number of times he looked at his watch will be removed in future reprints and the ebook,” adding “The story on Afghanistan is really about the importance of delivering feedback even when it is difficult told through my own experience of telling President Biden that his own story of loss was not well received by the families who were grieving their sons and daughters.”

https://t.co/dr3KFWKTQO pic.twitter.com/7y9URnyPXU

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) May 13, 2024

Democrats consistently rewrite history.

This is a particularly despicable instance of this.

What do the Dems running for Congress in #WI03 have to say about this disgrace?

Nothing.

They will not even bother to protect Americans on social media, what do you think they would… https://t.co/DCKiDSdvU8

— Derrick Van Orden (@derrickvanorden) May 13, 2024