Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki extended an apology to the families of the 13 Gold Star military service members who died in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 on Friday.
During a transcribed interview, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) asked Psaki about her comments that she wrote in her book, Say More, that stated President Joe Biden never looked at his watch during a ceremony in late August 2021 honoring soldiers killed in Afghanistan returning home.
“The chairman asked Ms. Psaki about her comments regarding President Biden looking at his watch while at Dover [Air Force Base] and asked her if she had anything she wanted to say to the families on the record,” Leslie Shedd, Foreign Affairs Committee majority spokeswoman, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “After pressing her multiple times if she had something she wanted to say to them, Ms. Psaki asked the chairman to pass along her apology to the families and to express her regret for the pain she caused them. He has done that.”
Biden’s demeanor during the return of the service members killed in Afghanistan has been used by Republicans and former President Donald Trump as evidence to claim that Biden is an unempathetic leader. Psaki’s statement that the incident of checking his watch never occurred contrasted with several photographs taken of the day by news agencies, including the Associated Press.