Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said that White House press secretary Jen Psaki is "one of the best press secretaries ever" after hearing her response to a question from Peter Doocey, the network's White House correspondent, about President Joe Biden claiming that he had been to the southern border.
After Biden said during Thursday night's CNN town hall that he had previously visited the southern border, Doocey pressed Psaki during a press briefing Friday on the validity of such statements.
"There’s been reporting that he did drive through the border when he was on the campaign trail in 2008," Psaki replied.
Wallace, a registered Democrat, then offered high praise to the press secretary for her response during an appearance on Fox News' "America Reports."
"Honestly, as somebody who’s spent six years in the White House, my immediate reaction was, 'Those are two people at the top of their game.' ... I think that [Doocy] has become the Sam Donaldson of this White House press corps ... and Jen Psaki, I think, is one of the best press secretaries ever," Wallace said Friday. "I don't know that anything was particularly accomplished, but they both gave and got pretty good."
Chris Wallace: "Jen Psaki is one of the best press secretaries ever"
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) October 22, 2021
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Psaki has previously been criticized by conservatives and the media for her lack of transparency with reporters.
Last month, Doocey asked if the president had ever been to the border in his life after Fox News was unable to find any record of a visit. Psaki said she was not sure of the answer but would get an answer to him later that day. However, the press secretary never followed up with Doocey over the course of the next month since the question was asked and did not offer any answer on the subject until Friday, when she was asked about assertions made by the president himself.
Psaki was asked in August why the White House should be trusted on pressing issues such as the Afghanistan departure when it has failed to be transparent on less important matters, including the number of times Biden's dog, Major, had bitten secret service agents. Psaki said in March that Major had only bitten an agent once, but it was later discovered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that eight biting incidents occurred over the course of as many days earlier this year.
Psaki dodged the question from the reporter.
Earlier this month, the press secretary joked about the "tragedy of the treadmill that's delayed," when asked about the delayed deliveries of goods such as dishwashers, furniture and treadmills.