As Biden administration staffers continue to head for the exits as the president passes the halfway mark of his first term, there's another shakeup that's just been announced: the State Department's Ned Price is leaving his post as spokesman for the department to work directly for Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The New York Post noted that Price was the longest-serving federal agency spokesman in the Biden administration — outlasting his counterparts in the rest of the federal bureaucracy. Until now.
In a statement, Blinken announced Tuesday night that Price would step down from his post in March and switch his job duties to be less public-facing.
Blinken's statement continued:
Ned began as Spokesperson on January 20, 2021. Within days of taking on the role, he restored the Department’s daily press briefings, giving journalists the chance to regularly ask tough questions of our policy. Throughout the more than 200 briefings he has since held, he’s treated journalists – as well as colleagues and everyone else he interacts with – with respect.
Ned has helped the U.S. government defend and promote press freedom around the globe and modeled the transparency and openness we advocate for in other countries. His contributions will benefit the Department long after his service.
Ned’s firm grasp of the policies underlying our messaging made him that much more effective in his role. On a personal level, I have constantly benefited from his counsel, as have so many members of the Department. Fortunately, I’ll be able to continue to do that, as Ned will continue to serve at State, working directly for me.
For people in America and around the world, Ned Price has often been a face and voice of U.S. foreign policy. He’s performed with extraordinary professionalism and integrity. On behalf of the Department, I thank Ned for his remarkable service.
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The boilerplate language and effusive praise given by Blinken, however, doesn't tell the full story of Price's record-setting tenure within the Biden administration. Price's departure means we won't get to hear Price's absurd Biden administration blather from the State Department podium.
That includes some of his greatest hits, such as warning Americans being left behind in Afghanistan by the Biden administration that "their safety needs to be their top priority."
State Department Spokesman Ned Price tells Americans who are unable to get to the Kabul airport and are now in hiding that "their safety needs to be their top priority."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 17, 2021
But not the top priority of the US? pic.twitter.com/HjKW2onGKT
Don't forget his supposedly earnest pleas for the Taliban to form an "inclusive" government in Afghanistan which definitely did not happen and was never going to happen.
The State Department joins the UN Security Council in calling for an "inclusive" government in Afghanistan: pic.twitter.com/TDsQecokfv
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 16, 2021
And, more recently, Price's insistence that the Biden administration's threats of sanctions against Russia were a "deterrent" against Putin's invasion of Ukraine, only to impose sanctions and claim doing so did not lessen U.S. deterrence as the State Department had previously argued.
.@APDiploWriter Matt Lee: "I thought we spent the last couple of months...arguing...the threat of sanctions was the deterrent &...If you actually imposed them, then you would lose...deterrence"
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 23, 2022
Ned Price: "Matt, you've heard us say--"
Lee: "But you can't have it both ways." pic.twitter.com/kUl2JYMlnR
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