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‘You’re Confusing a Few Things There’: Jen Psaki Forced to Educate Right Wing Reporter Defending DeSantis

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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday performed what has become a near-daily exercise in educating right wing reporters, although this time not one from Fox News.

Instead, the reporter was Emerald Robinson of Newsmax, who Psaki ultimately was forced to cut off.

Robinson tried to defend Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, who not only refuses to implement a mask mandate but has banned state and local government agencies and schools from trying to do so – potentially putting 2.7 million children, and their families, at risk as they return to schools. DeSantis’ state of Florida accounts for about one in five new coronavirus cases and “leads the nation in the number of adults and children admitted into the hospital with confirmed cases of Covid-19,” CNN reports.

Robinson cited a medical expert who made news this week by saying the cloth masks many Americans are using are insufficient, and criticized his colleague for not urging stronger masks, possibly ones like the N95 masks used by medical professionals and first responders.

But the Newsmax reporter suggested that was proof that DeSantis’ mask ban made sense, which it does not.

“One of the President’s top COVID advisors, Michael Osterholm, just this recently –” Robinson began.

“Who’s not a current adviser to the president,” Psaki was forced to inform Robinson. He is an epidemiologist who was an advisor to President-elect Joe Biden but has not served in the administration.

“He said,” Robinson continued, “in a television interview this week regarding mask wearing, specifically the cloth masks like so many of us are wearing here and what the kids are wearing in school, right? Largely.  He said, it’s just that the scientific community is doing a disservice to the public on face coverings, he said that cloth masks like these have very limited impact on the amount of virus that you inhale or you exhale out. And he also said that he’s really disappointed in his colleagues for not making that more clear to the public, and that’s sort of in line with the study that Governor DeSantis is citing as the basis for his executive order,” Robinson declared, which is false, as Psaki was forced to explain.

“I think you’re confusing a few things there but let me first say that Osterholm is not an advisor to the President, to the administration, to the White House,” Psaki explained, information that is easily found on Wikipedia or via any simple Google search. “He doesn’t work here, he’s a private citizen and a medical public health expert, but a lot of public health experts are out there speaking and good for them.”

In fact, Osterholm said this week, “It`s very important to wear adequate protection. And what we mean by that is you need to wear an N-95 respirator,” which he noted are no longer in short supply like they were last year.

“I will say,” Psaki continued, “that we are going to continue to rely on the advice of medical experts in the federal government on what kind of masks we all should wear, what kind of masks kids should wear, and if they change that advice, then the Department of Education will be working with schools to make sure if that’s implemented as a mitigation measure.”

“The issue we have taken with the guidance of Governor DeSantis – which he of course is fundraising off of, I think we should note – is that he is preventing schools and teachers and others from protecting themselves, and the students in their classroom, and as a mother myself, that’s concerning and I’m sure it’s concerning to mothers in Florida.”

“I think we’re gonna have to continue. Go ahead. I think we’ve got to continue. Go ahead, You had a very long question we’ve got to continue. Go ahead. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Emerald, we’re going to continue. Go ahead,” Psaki said, moving to another reporter.

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Trump ‘Laser-Focused’ on Affordability Says White House After Calling It a ‘Hoax’

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The White House says President Donald Trump has been “laser-focused on making America affordable” since taking office. Just one month ago, President Trump called affordability a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats.

President Trump has recently attempted to preserve his sweeping tariffs amid Supreme Court review, has engaged in foreign policy messaging involving Venezuela, Iran, and Greenland — including promoting himself as the “acting President of Venezuela” — and has responded sharply to protests involving federal officers.

The president campaigned on lowering the cost of living on “day one,” but nearly 51 weeks into his second term, inflation remains high.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that the president would travel to Detroit on Tuesday to deliver a speech about “all of the positive economic news that we continue to see as a result of his agenda.”

READ MORE: ‘Organized Gangs of Wine Moms’ Are Impeding Federal Agents Says Fox Columnist

“So tomorrow, he looks forward to traveling to the great state of Michigan, a state he won big, to not only tour a factory that produces Ford F-150s, and is going to be hiring more, and producing more trucks right here in the USA because of President Trump’s effective tariff policies,” Leavitt said.

Trump narrowly won Michigan, taking less than half of the vote and besting Vice President Kamala Harris by 1.4 percentage points.

Leavitt said that “mortgage rates that are falling under 6% for the first time in years,” “the national average of gasoline is the lowest that it’s been in five years,” and core inflation is “at its lowest level in five years.”

She suggested that “with a little bit of patience, the American people are going to continue to see that the best is yet to come,” and claimed that Trump “has a proven economic formula that works.”

Leavitt also said that Trump has a housing plan “in the works” and a healthcare plan “in the works,” and vowed that Americans will “continue to hear from the president, and he’ll continue to hit the road across the country to speak directly with the people he loves most, the American people.”

READ MORE: Trump ‘Losing Political Fight’ to Fed Chair: Analyst

 

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Trump DOJ Fires Attorney Who Refused to Prosecute James Comey

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The Trump Department of Justice has terminated a 64-year old attorney, the number-two official in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, after he refused to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey in a highly-controversial case.

MS NOW on Monday reported that Robert McBride, a senior DOJ prosecutor and former Navy lawyer, “was brought into the prominent satellite office of the Justice Department to serve as first assistant to U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan and took a more prominent role as her status was in question and after a judge ruled in late November that she was not legally appointed to run the office.”

McBride reportedly had held private meetings with judges, MS NOW reported, calling it a move that was “viewed as undermining the Administration.”

He had declined to prosecute Comey, sources said, reportedly telling top Justice Department officials that it would be difficult to do that and also run the office.

MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig added that McBride was also suspected of “gunning for” the top job.

The New York Times reported that there was a “disagreement about whether he would take charge of the Trump administration’s effort to re-indict James B. Comey,” and called McBride’s firing “the latest development in the fallout in the Justice Department over President Trump’s effort to punish Mr. Comey, the former F.B.I. director and his longtime nemesis, whom the president blames for past investigations of his conduct.”

The Times added that meeting with judges is considered “commonplace.”

 

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‘Screwed’: Trump Warns Supreme Court on Tariffs

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With many Americans awaiting a Supreme Court decision on the sweeping Trump tariffs and some experts believing the Court will rule on them any day nowpossibly as soon as Wednesday — the president is once again sending a clear warning to the justices: allow the tariffs or America is “screwed.”

During the November oral arguments, liberal and conservative justices appeared skeptical of the administration’s claim it has the power to impose global tariffs by declaring a national emergency.

President Trump has repeatedly said the tariffs are necessary for national security, and said that if the court does not allow them the U.S. would be in no position to give refunds of billions of dollars. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent late last week said refunds “won’t be a problem.”

Trump on Monday appeared to disagree.

READ MORE: ‘Organized Gangs of Wine Moms’ Are Impeding Federal Agents Says Fox Columnist

“The actual numbers that we would have to pay back if, for any reason, the Supreme Court were to rule against the United States of America on Tariffs, would be many Hundreds of Billions of Dollars,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday afternoon. It is possible the Court could rescind the Trump tariffs and not require refunds.

The president then added that “the amount of ‘payback’ that Countries and Companies would require for the Investments they are making on building Plants, Factories, and Equipment, for the purpose of being able to avoid the payment of Tariffs. When these Investments are added, we are talking about Trillions of Dollars!”

He claimed any negative ruling would create “a complete mess,” and make it “almost impossible for our Country to pay.”

Despite his Treasury Secretary’s remarks, Trump added, “Anybody who says that it can be quickly and easily done would be making a false, inaccurate, or totally misunderstood answer to this very large and complex question.”

“It may not be possible but, if it were, it would be Dollars that would be so large that it would take many years to figure out what number we are talking about and even, who, when, and where, to pay,” he claimed.

And he warned point-blank, “if the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America on this National Security bonanza, WE’RE SCREWED!”

READ MORE: Trump ‘Losing Political Fight’ to Fed Chair: Analyst

 

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