Evangelical right-wing reporter for the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Owen Jensen, managed to get himself into the White House Press Room. His goal appeared to be harassing Press Secretary Jen Psaki into accidentally doing harm to her boss, President Joe Biden.
The Vanity Fair Magazine described Psaki as:
‘A mixture of warmth, humor, intelligence, and edge.’
Heavy on the edge. She often leaves reporters speechless with her responses. But this time a very tenuous Jensen leeched onto her determined to draw blood.
Of course, she was ready for Jensen. A former chief strategist in President Barack Obama’s White House, David Axelrod described Psaki:
‘As Biden would say, she has a steel rod for a spine.’
The ETWN reporter plowed right into her with a question about President Joe Biden’s stand on abortion, according to The Crooks & Liars.
Jensen hit on whether President Joe Biden would respect “the human dignity of the unborn:”
‘As you know, millions of Catholics will be watching when president and Pope Francis meet. The White House has said they will discuss working together on efforts grounded in respect for fundamental human dignity. Question one: Will that include the human dignity of the unborn?’
Although, Psaki did not use her classic line “You have never been pregnant,” she did shoot right back:
‘Well, Owen, as you know, although you ask me most often, if not every time, about abortion, but I will tell you there’s a great deal of agreement.’
Jensen tried to knock the press secretary off course, but she responded:
‘Let me finish my answer. There’s not. You can ask anything you want. But what I want to note, since you follow this closely, is there’s a great deal of agreement and overlap between the president and Pope Francis on a range of issues: poverty, combatting the climate crisis, ending the COVID-19 pandemic, these are all hugely important, impactful issues that will be the centerpiece of what their discussion is when they meet.’
‘The president has met with him, this will be their fourth meeting. We expect a warm and constructive dialogue. You are familiar with where the president stands. He’s somebody who stands up for and believes that a woman’s right to choose is important.’
Jensen interrupted Psaki:
‘Understood.’
At that point, she was already moving on to the next reporter in line:
‘I have just outlined what the focus of the meeting will be. I think we’re going to have to move on.’
But Jensen just kept talking over her.
Psaki called him out:
‘Owen, I answered your question.’
And he kept talking.
She said:
‘Owen.’
He just kept talking.
Finally, Paski cut him off:
‘I answered your question.’
At the time, President Biden was aboard Air Force One and headed to Vatican City. Unfazed, the reporter continued, trying to get her to say our Catholic president disagreed with the Pope:
‘The pope has said that abortion is murder, and is like hiring a hit man. Does the president agree or disagree with that?’
Before moving on Psaki told Jensen:
‘You know that the president believes in a woman’s right to choose. You’re familiar with this issue. We’ve spoken about it many times.’
The issue is so hot now because Texas implemented a virtually complete anti-abortion stance with the court’s temporary but full blessing. Women living there have a brief window of opportunity, but it comes before most women know they are pregnant at six weeks.
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