MSNBC host Jen Psaki, then White House press secretary, looks on as she holds a press briefing at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S. March 21, 2022. (Reuters/Leah Millis)
Psaki, who preceded Karine Jean-Pierre as White House press secretary, garnered attention by claiming in her new book, "Say More," that Biden never checked his watch during the ceremony honoring the slain heroes. A report by Axios, however, said Psaki’s retelling contradicted pictures and Gold Star families' firsthand accounts.
Psaki, following online backlash, told Axios "the detail in a few lines of the book about the exact number of times he looked at his watch will be removed in future reprints and the eBook."
The soon-to-be removed version of Psaki’s book claimed "the president looked at his watch only after the ceremony had ended," and the MSNBC star insisted Biden’s critics misrepresented the facts to make Biden appear insensitive. However, Gold Star families have long said they saw Biden check his watch multiple times during the dignified transfer ceremony.
Gold Star father Steve Nikoui, father of Marine Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, also weighed in on Hannity's show Monday.
US President Joe Biden stands alongside First Lady Jill Biden as they attend the dignified transfer of the remains of a fallen service member at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, August, 29, 2021. President Biden has taken heat for glancing down at his watch multiple times during the ceremony. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
"It's devastating, but it's not really surprising from this administration and from the people that have worked in it," he said.
"[The Biden administration] continue[s] to lie to, manipulate facts and change the narrative to support their narratives and to try to change the history, regardless of what mishaps they've done."
Nikoui notoriously heckled Biden during this year's State of the Union address. The incident put him in legal crosshairs for disrupting Congress, but D.C. Attorney Gen. Brian Schwalb later decided not to press charges.
