TRANSCRIPT:
PSAKI: “Go ahead, Yamiche.”
ALCINDOR: “Thanks, Jen. A couple questions on Haiti. The President has often used his bully pulpit during the most important times in his administration. Why is he not using that bully pulpit to speak out forcefully himself on the treatment of Haitians?”
PSAKI: “I would say, Yamiche, certainly I represented to you all his point of view. His point of view is also reflected in the actions that have been taken through the administration, including the investigation, including the change in policy. The Secretary of Homeland Security oversees these efforts and has been quite outspoken and quite visible on what steps we should take moving forward. And he certainly may still speak to it. Obviously, there is a lot of events happening here, including the U.N. General Assembly, Covid and others, and I wouldn’t rule that out.”
ALCINDOR: “Respectfully — I have a couple more questions.”
PSAKI: “Sure.”
ALCINDOR: “Respectfully, I understand that you are the spokesperson for the President. These are images that are traumatizing Haitian Americans that he promised to treat respectfully and with humanity. Why isn’t the President telling people himself these images, that people say look like slavery, are wrong. ‘Me as president, I as president condemn them.’ How is he not doing that? Why is he not doing that? And what are people to take away from the fact that he is not at the bully pulpit himself talking about these image?”
PSAKI: “Yamiche, I think people should take away that his actions make clear how horrible and horrific he thinks these images are, including an investigation, including a change of policy, including conveying clearly that this is not acceptable. And this — he is not going to stand for this in the Biden-Harris administration. Our actions make that absolutely crystal clear, as have our engagements with a range of voices, a range of concerned advocates, members of Congress and others who we want to communicate with, not just about our horror but also about what our immigration policy is moving forward.”