Biden’s White House press secretary Jen Psaki commits to transparency in first briefing

After four years of turbulence and spin from the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the newly inaugurated administration has a “common goal”: “sharing accurate information with the American people.”

“When the president asked me to serve in this role, we talked about the importance of bringing truth and transparency back to the briefing room,” she said on Wednesday night, following the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“There are a number of ways to combat misinformation,” she said. “One of them is accurate information and truth and data and sharing information even when it is hard to hear."

Her statements follow the 10-month term of Donald Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, the fourth person in Trump administration to hold the position, and a final year in office marred by obfuscation and disinformation as the US saw thousands of daily deaths from Covid-19 while the president spread baseless election fraud conspiracies in the months leading up to Election Day.

Ms McEnany pledged to “never lie to you – you have my word on that” at her first briefing, though she would go on to amplify the president’s false claims throughout the coronavirus pandemic and the 2020 presidential election.

Ms Psaki said the White House will return to daily press briefings on Monday through Friday.

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