Following weeks of controversy over the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein probe, Jen Psaki said Attorney General Pam Bondi is carrying out a “desperate” plan to get back in Donald Trump’s good graces.
On Monday, Bondi directed the DOJ to launch a grand jury investigation into baseless allegations that the Obama administration manipulated intelligence during its probe into Russia’s meddling during the 2016 election.
“Pretty peak desperate, isn’t it?” Psaki said of Bondi’s move.
“There are few issues that have been as exhaustively investigated as this one,” the MSNBC host continued on Tuesday’s “The Briefing with Jen Psaki,” noting the probe by special counsel Robert Mueller, the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation and special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the matter — all of which began during Trump’s first term — found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy among Obama administration officials.
Psaki characterized Bondi’s effort as a likely attempt to distract the American public from other issues that have plagued the administration, including the release of Epstein-related material and the president’s unpopular, massive budget bill.
“Aside from waving a shiny ball around to get their favorite lapdogs to cover, it’s completely unclear what this latest investigation is even about,” Psaki said.
Psaki, who served as White House communications director during the Obama administration, spoke about her own experience in government during the time in question. Psaki said that aside from a “watered-down” public statement in September, the administration “didn’t really say much about” Russia’s actions ahead of the 2016 election.
“The intelligence community didn’t put anything out about Russia’s intervention until Oct. 7, which basically blamed Russia for the release of hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s server. [It] did not assert they were trying to elect Trump. It just stated, ‘The Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.’ And again, encourage states to protect their infrastructure because that was a concern at the time,” Psaki recalled, adding: “Admittedly, it’s all pretty weak stuff in retrospect, given what we know now.”
Psaki agreed with fellow former Obama official Ben Rhodes, who said in 2018 that many in the administration felt they should have done more ahead of the election to tamp down Russian influence. “I mean, would sounding the alarm about the massive disinformation campaign have changed the outcome of the 2016 election?” Psaki mused. “Maybe not — but there were a lot of lessons learned from that period.” “But if anyone should be questioning the approach of the Obama administration at the time, the last person who’s justified to do so is Donald Trump,” Psaki concluded. “I mean, without Russia, he might just be playing bad golf and eating burgers at Mar-a-Lago.” You can watch Psaki’s full take in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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