White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has defended President Joe Biden from criticisms by Senator Mitt Romney and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Psaki addressed the criticisms Biden had received following a speech on voting rights in Georgia on Tuesday. Biden's full speech can be viewed here.
Psaki was asked for comment after Romney accused the president of "going down the same tragic road taken by President Trump" on Tuesday.
He added: "[President Biden] said quite a number of things that simply weren't true.
"He also accused a number of my good and principled colleagues in the Senate of having sinister, even racist inclination. He charged that voting against his bill allies us with Bull Connor, George Wallace and Jefferson Davis. So much for unifying the country and working across the aisle."
Following these statements, Psaki argued that it was "hilarious on many levels" Biden was being accused of being offensive when, in her view, "people sat silently" while former President Donald Trump was in office.
"With all due respect to Senator Romney , I think anyone would note there's a night-and-day difference between fomenting an insurrection based on lies totally debunked by 80 judges, including Trump-appointed ones and election authorities across the country and making objective, true statements," Psaki responded.
She added: "True statements, which is what the president made yesterday, about the effects of a coordinated nationwide effort to undermine the constitutional right to vote.
"I know there has been a lot of claim of the offensive nature of the speech yesterday.
"Which is hilarious on many levels, given how many people sat silently over the last four years for the former president.
"I would note that, in our view and the president's view, what is far more offensive is the effort to suppress people's basic right to exercise who they want to support and who they want to elect.
"That's not a partisan thing. That was why he gave such a strong speech yesterday."
McConnell also criticized President Biden and claimed he had "demonized people who disagree with him."
"Twelve months ago this President said disagreement must not lead to disunion," McConnell said to the Senate on Wednesday.
He continued: "But yesterday he invoked the bloody disunion of the civil war to demonize Americans who disagree with him.
"He compared a bi-partisan majority of Senators to literal traitors. How profoundly unpresidential.
"Look I have known, liked, and personally respected Joe Biden for many years, I did not recognize the man at the podium yesterday."
Biden addressed these comments briefly when he spoke to reporter Igor Bobic.
Biden currently standing outside McConnell’s office, meeting with a group of pages.
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 12, 2022
“I like Mitch McConnell, he’s a friend,” he said when asked to respond to McConnell calling his speech “unpresidential”
Bobic tweeted: "Biden currently standing outside McConnell's office, meeting with a group of pages.
"'I like Mitch McConnell, he's a friend,' he said when asked to respond to McConnell calling his speech 'unpresidential'"
Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment.
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Gerrard Kaonga is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter and is based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on U.S. ... Read more
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