Press Secretary Psaki is doing her best to cover for Biden and his, what seems to be, nonstop blunders. Reporters recently asked about Biden and how he failed to listen to some of his advisors that suggested a more cautious departure from Afghanistan. Psaki was quick to defend Biden’s decision and then went as far as getting testy for questioning his choices.
Q I’d like to ask you a little bit more about the — some of what’s detailed in the upcoming book of Woodward and Costa, specifically in the area of the President taking or not taking the advice of Secretaries Austin and Blinken.
We’ve seen the President defend his decision to exit Afghanistan in the way that he did. But as the public, they see this and read this and say, “top, close officials suggested a slower path out.” The public watched what happened with some of the chaotic things. What should we take from that in terms of how the President processes the information his advisors are giving? And does he have any second thoughts about not taking the gated, slower approach that’s described?
MS. PSAKI: Well, I think that people should take — one, let me first say: I’m not going to confirm or substantiate anonymous unconfirmed reports in a book.
But I think you’re asking an important question, which is: How does the President take a range of advice from different people? And sometimes it’s conflicting with each other as well, of course.
Watch Second Clip Below.
PSAKI on Woodward/Costa revelations about advice Biden received on Afghanistan withdrawal:
"It was not 'the status quo' or 'withdraw'. It was 'withdraw' or 'increase troops'. And that's how [Biden] saw the decision." pic.twitter.com/Cj3i1LuJvx
— Zach Purser Brown (@zachjourno) September 16, 2021
<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”><strong>Clip 1</strong></span>
Q: The President told ABC back in August that none of his advisors recommended leaving 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. General Miller told the Senate Armed Services Committee that that was exactly what he recommended. Was the President’s answer in that interview an honest answer?
MS. PSAKI: First of all, I’m not going to get into details of private advice that the President gets from his national security team or military advisors.
What is clear is that the President asked for — welcomed — candid, non-sugar coated advice on Afghanistan and what we should do, given what we walked into, which was a deal struck with the Taliban with a May 1st timeline, including the release of 5,000 Taliban fighters, where we would need to get our U.S. forces out, otherwise we would face conflict. That’s what he was facing.
In terms of the mechanisms of who provided what advice through what forum, I’m just not going to get into that level of detail from here.
<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”><strong>Clip 2</strong></span>
Q But did the President hear, specifically, the recommendation from the commander on the ground in Afghanistan that he feared that a full withdrawal would be devastating and should not happen?
MS. PSAKI: He was provided a range of advice. I’m not going to get into more details than that. But what’s important to note, at this point, is it’s crystal clear that 2,500 troops would not have been sustainable on the ground; it would have been either increase troops on the ground or withdraw troops on the ground. And the President has been clear many times, he was not going to send thousands and thousands more troops to fight a war the Afghans did not want to fight themselves.
.@JacquiHeinrich: "Did the President adhere to the recommendation from the commander on the ground be Afghanistan that he feared that a full withdrawal would be devastating and should not happen?"
Psaki: "He was provided a range of advice." pic.twitter.com/dFxwGJUPlR
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 16, 2021
Sounds like at least some of Biden’s advisors knew what the right move was. Biden chose to pick an option that led to this chaos in the middle east. But I guess he does like to create a crisis whenever he gets the chance, as we are seeing n our southern border.