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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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Acting Speaker McHenry Did Not Have Authority to Evict Pelosi Says Top Rules Committee Democrat

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5 hours ago

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October 4, 2023

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U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Kevin McCarthy’s hand-picked temporary successor and acting Speaker, operated outside of carefully crafted House rules when he evicted Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former Democratic Majority Leader, from their Capitol Hill offices just hours after Republicans ousted McCarthy as Speaker.

That’s according to the top Democrat on the powerful House Rules Committee, Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-MA), who previously served as the Chair of the Rules Committee. He says the “Speaker pro tempore” has one job only: help elect a new Speaker of the House.

“I want to clear up some confusion,” McGovern wrote late Wednesday afternoon.

“As an unelected acting Speaker pro tempore, @PatrickMcHenry’s job is to guide the House toward the election of a new Speaker. That’s it.”

“His power is constrained by the plain text of Rule 1, Clause 8 of the Rules of the House,” said McGovern.

READ MORE: ‘My Job Is Not to Put Pool Noodles Around Hard Corners for Republicans’: AOC Blasts Critics Over McCarthy Vote

Rep. McGovern said he is “alarmed” by McHenry’s order evicting Pelosi and Hoyer.

“Given the plain text of the rule, I don’t think he has that power,” McGovern added.

McGovern further explained, “The rule says he can only exercise as much authority as is ‘necessary and appropriate’ towards the end of electing a Speaker. The Rules Committee narrowly described this rule in 2004: an acting Speaker pro tempore serves ‘for the sole purpose of electing a new Speaker.'”

“These rules were put into place after 9/11 to ensure continuity of government & quick election of a new Speaker in an emergency. Not to provide for a short-term Speaker due to Republican dysfunction,” concluded McGovern, who has served in Congress since 1997.

READ MORE: Pelosi Delivers Brutal Response After McCarthy’s Acting Replacement Orders Her to Vacate Her Office Immediately

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‘My Job Is Not to Put Pool Noodles Around Hard Corners for Republicans’: AOC Blasts Critics Over McCarthy Vote

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6 hours ago

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October 4, 2023

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U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blasted critics across the political spectrum who are angered House Democrats did not vote to keep Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, after Republicans ousted him on Tuesday.

“Contrary to how McCarthy’s defenders are behaving, men failing up is not a Constitutionally protected right,” Ocasio-Cortez said on social media. “The man made risky decisions and faced the natural consequences of them. I am not his mom, and my job is not to put pool noodles around hard corners for Republicans.”

AOC also blasted 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who is now a former Democrat, after he criticized Democrats on CNN.

READ MORE: Karine Jean-Pierre Schools Peter Doocy for Asking if White House Is ‘Loving’ GOP House Chaos

“Why did Dems vote along party lines to oust Kevin McCarthy? Not because they thought it was good for the country but because that’s what they were told to do,” Yang said on social media when posting his remarks.

“Yes,” Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez responded, “because strengthening someone who voted to overturn the election, held the entire US economy hostage, launched a baseless impeachment inquiry without a vote, and refuses to honor his word is what is in the best interest of this country.”

“Do some of you hear yourselves?” she asked rhetorically.

READ MORE: Pelosi Strikes Back After New House GOP Leadership, in Act of ‘Revenge’ Immediately Targets Top Democrats

Tuesday night she also defended Democrats for not, as some have put it, “saving” McCarthy.

“Does anyone believe for one minute that McCarthy would help elect a Dem speaker ‘for the institution’?” she asked. “McCarthy’s hubris is a theme. He loudly stated he wouldn’t negotiate w/Dems, called virtually none, trashed those who helped w/CR, and then expected Dem votes for free?”

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Karine Jean-Pierre Schools Peter Doocy for Asking if White House Is ‘Loving’ GOP House Chaos

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8 hours ago

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October 4, 2023

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In the middle of an interview with U.S Senator John Kennedy, Fox News interrupted the Louisiana Republican for some “breaking news,” as the right wing cable network’s Peter Doocy began to ask White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the chaos far-right wing Republicans caused by ousting Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday.

“All right. Senator, thank you for joining us. We got a little bit of breaking news here. We got to jump back to the briefing. Our Peter Doocy is questioning the Press Secretary,” John Roberts told viewers as the camera cut to the White House Press Briefing Room.

“Is any part of the West Wing here, just loving the fact that Republicans don’t appear to be able to govern the one part of the government that they actually control?” Doocy asked.

“Nobody’s ‘loving’ anything when it’s when we’re not when we’re not able to deliver for the American people. Nobody’s loving that,” Jean-Pierre replied, as she explained to Doocy what the White House believes is actually important.

READ MORE: Jim Jordan, a ‘Significant Player’ in Trump’s Efforts to Overturn Election Results, Running for Speaker of the House

“It is important for Congress to work, not for us, but on behalf of the American people. It is important to make sure that we meet the challenges of the American people. That’s what’s important. What we saw, you heard from the President, what we saw on Saturday should have never have happened, but we’re glad that a deal was made. We’re glad that we’re not in a shutdown. But House Republicans should have never gotten us that far.”

Jean-Pierre went on to tell Doocy that since Republicans “are the majority in the House, they can fix this.”

“They’re creating the chaos. That is not helpful to the American people.”

“That’s why you saw the President today talk about student debt relief, and talk about what else he’s doing to make sure that we’re giving a little bit of breathing room to the American people. That’s why you heard from the President yesterday talking about or our announcement, talking about how we’re continuing to beat Big Pharma so we can lower prescription drug costs for the American people. That’s what the President cares about. That’s what he wants to see – what can we continue to do to help Americans as they face really tough challenges? So this is not, we’re not loving it. It is not helpful to any any American across the country.”

READ MORE: Pelosi Strikes Back After New House GOP Leadership, in Act of ‘Revenge’ Immediately Targets Top Democrats

Doocy, went on to ask if “anybody in the West Wing has heard anybody talking about the possibility of ‘Speaker Trump.'”

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