Biden White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki set her sights on Georgia’s GOP Governor Brian Kemp while briefing reporters, and proceeded to fire off on the Trump-loving GA official for his apparent disregard for his constituents as he fights against vaccine mandates amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Psaki wrapped up a recent press briefing with a video chat with a local reporter — something that’s become somewhat of a traditional conclusion to her daily pressers. Yesterday’s guest local reporter, who tuned in to chat with the press secretary via a video call, was Univision 23 Atlanta’s Rafael Olavarría.
Olavarría used his video chat appearance to question what message she wants to send to the southern state’s deeply Republican Governor Kemp as he continues to heavily oppose President Biden’s proposed vaccine mandates, even as the state of Georgia’s vaccination rates remain staggeringly low and the entire nation faces the potential spread of yet another new COVID variant, Omicron.
And let’s just say, Jen did not hold back in her message to Kemp.
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“Hello, Secretary Psaki, and thank you for taking my question. I’ll ask you something that is a cause of concern for our communities here in Georgia,” Olavarría opened during his video call appearance. “As you probably know, our state is only — we have only 51 percent of our population fully vaccinated, and we even have counties where only 20 percent of our residents are vaccinated. Yesterday, Dr. Cameron Webb from the White House COVID-19 Response Team told me that states like Georgia are potentially some of the most vulnerable ones to the new variant.”
“Nevertheless, our Governor, Brian Kemp, has been laser-focused on fighting federal vaccine requirements, calling them ‘unlawful’ and ‘unconstitutional,'” the local GA reporter continued. “And as cases of Omicron variant increase in the U.S. and with Georgia as one of the most vulnerable states, I would like to know what is the White House’s message to Governor Kemp?”
Psaki proceeded to give Kemp a virtual lashing in her response.
“Well, I would say our message to Governor Kemp is: If you’re not going to be a part of protecting the people of Georgia, ensuring that they can take steps to save their own lives, save their neighbors’ lives and their children’s, then you should get out of the way, because businesses are implementing steps across the country, including in Georgia, to put in place vaccine or testing requirements, hospital associations are, universities are, and people — and what we’ve seen as one of the biggest barriers — and this is something we can do from the federal government — is access.”
“So, our hope is that we can continue to work in a nonpartisan way with health officials in Georgia, as we do across the country, to increase and expand access to not just testing but also vaccination,” Psaki stated. “That’s something that we announced that we’re going to take additional steps on yesterday, and we’re looking forward to building on.”
You can watch the clip of Jen’s Kemp flogging right here:
Jen Psaki Rips Gov. Kemp to Local Reporter for Fighting Vaccine Mandates: Help Save Lives or ‘Get Out of the Way’ https://t.co/72teDcfbHA pic.twitter.com/cPMVLvDSOS
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) December 4, 2021
Featured image via screen capture
