Jen Psaki’s book hits like a bomb: White House press secretary talks about battling Biden’s age, John Kerry’s yacht and the TRUTH about her fight with the most combative reporter

Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki revealed many different struggles she had during her career in her book “Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World.”

Psaki admits it’s difficult to be an objective news anchor on MSNBC, even after serving as President Joe Biden’s press secretary.

Referring specifically to questions about Biden’s age, she said it was difficult in her new media job not to revive old talking points from her previous job.

Psaki wrote that she ultimately found ways to avoid talking about her personal thoughts about the president and tried to provide insight into what he and his team might be thinking in her absence.

“It was about coming to terms with the reality that I will never be Joe Biden’s press secretary in the White House — but also about realizing that this is not all I would ever be,” she wrote.

Psaki expressed relief when she finally accepted the job of White House press secretary for President Joe Biden, after interviewing twice during former President Barack Obama’s administration and losing the job to press secretaries Jay Carney and Josh Earnest.

In the book, she details some of her more regrettable moments as Biden’s press secretary, including when she did so the Space Force mocked and sarcastically asked if reporters wanted that send corona tests for every American.

Correcting misinformation about John Kerry’s yacht

Psaki also revealed embarrassing moments with reporters when she worked as Secretary of State John Kerry’s press secretary at the State Department.

She revealed a moment when she falsely told reporters that Kerry was not on his family yacht in Nantucket while a military coup was underway in Egypt in 2013.

“I believed this to be true at the time, but it turned out I had spoken too soon. CBS was right: my boss had been on his yacht on the day in question,” she wrote.

After learning that Kerry was indeed on his yacht, she said she felt it was important to admit her mistake to reporters.

“I called CBS to admit that I had made a mistake and to say that he had been on his boat that day. “I then called every reporter I had spoken to about the story and fell on the sword for inadvertently providing incorrect information,” she said.

Psaki’s ‘formidable enemy’ Peter Doocy

Psaki described her struggles with Fox News White House reporter Peter Doocy, whom she described in the press conference room as “a formidable enemy” and a “common adversary.”

Psaki noted that Doocy “always started with the most controversial issue,” but that he often had a “wrong starting point” with his questions, which she was able to use to her advantage.

Fox News reporter Peter Doocy regularly challenges the Biden administration’s narrative in the White House briefing room

Jen Psaki described Doocy as “completely professional” when he visited her office

“But while our back-and-forth can sometimes be annoying (a fancy word for really annoying), the fact is my answer to the question, ‘How much do you hate Peter Doocy?’ In fact, that’s not the case at all,” Psaki admitted.

She said Doocy often visited her in her office when they were not in the briefing room, where he was “completely professional, courteous and reasonable.”

“These conversations helped me see him less as an enemy in the briefing room — even on the days he asked me the most outrageous questions — and more as a fellow human being I had to work with, not against,” she wrote.

Psaki also believed that “facts” could help her combat Fox News’ stories.

“Have these facts convinced Peter Doocy and Fox viewers to change their position? No, they certainly didn’t. But even if you can’t win, crafting clear, factual rebuttals to anticipated challenges can help others formulate the same counterarguments,” she wrote.

Dealing with the Russians

Psaki had more trouble with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian government media officials pointing out her blunders and struggles on camera as they tried to answer foreign policy questions at the State Department.

She described Russian President Vladimir Putin as her “work bully.”

The Russians, she explained, coined the term “Psakiing,” which Russian TV host Dmitry Kiselyov described as “a dogmatic statement about something they don’t understand, conflates the facts and then makes no apology.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One

“Say More. Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World” by Jen Psaki released May 7, 2024 by Simon and Schuster

She described the Russians as “ruthless” and “constantly wondering if I was up to the task.”

“Whether they knew it or not, I felt vulnerable about that question,” she said.

She complained that her comments were often taken out of context, which she said was “disturbing, frustrating, maddening and distracting.”

Psaki said that while some reporters found the Russian attention on her amusing, she did not feel the same way.

“Being attacked and having misinformation spread about you can make you feel isolated, regardless of the source,” she said.

(Psaki did not address the embarrassing moment when the Russians presented her with a pink hat with a communist hammer and sickle logo on it)

Psaki said she finally felt the need to publicly push back against the Russians during a briefing, criticizing them for focusing on attacking women in government and their criticism of her outfits she chose for briefings.

“I think it’s a pretty clear sign that they don’t have the truth on their side. … So if I get hassled a little bit about that, I’m not going to worry about it.” I’ll take it as a badge of honor,” she said said in a 2014 briefing.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki arrives for her final press conference at the White House

US President Joe Biden greets White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki

Misinformation about Biden checking his watch during the handover ceremony

Psaki incorrectly described the story of Biden looking at his watch during a handover ceremony for 13 soldiers killed in the botched evacuation of Afghanistan as “misinformation.”

Independent fact-checkers have admitted that the president was caught checking his watch twice during the ceremony.

That angered the military families of the slain service members, many of whom personally saw the president checking his watch during the ceremony.

Psaki admitted It was announced on Monday that future printings of the book – and the e-book – would be updated to correct the story, but she did not apologize for the error. As of Tuesday morning, the newly downloaded ebook had not been corrected.

Psaki revealed that she told Biden that military families were angry at the president for trying to compare the death of his own son Beau Biden to the loss of their loved one in combat.

“I thought I was helping them,” Biden responded, according to Psaki’s account. “It has always helped me to hear how other people have experienced loss.”