White House press secretary Jen Psaki landed a parting shot on Senate Judiciary Republicans on Friday for their confirmation hearing questioning of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Earlier that day, at a ceremony celebrating Jackson’s confirmation at the White House, President Joe Biden called questions from Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, and others “vile” and “baseless.” Psaki echoed those comments during Friday’s press briefing.
“What he was speaking to on a historic day is that Judge Jackson was the picture — now Justice Jackson — was the picture of dignity in her hearings,” she said of Biden’s comments. “Some others in the room decided to be the opposite.”
Psaki noted that Biden “is somebody who has more experience overseeing Supreme Court hearings than anyone living,” having been the Senate Judiciary chairman “during Republican and Democratic presidents, and expects a certain level of conduct professionalism and decorum. That is not what we saw.”
Biden also thanked Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Maine Sen. Susan Collins for being the only Republicans to vote to confirm Jackson. Collins announced Thursday that she had tested positive for the coronavirus, but neither Romney nor Murkowski attended Friday’s event despite receiving invitations from the White House.
Asked about their absence, Psaki said, “It doesn’t change the president’s gratitude to them for bucking the trend in their party of not supporting an eminently qualified nominee.”
“They did that,” she continued. “It was something he wanted to call out today.”
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You can watch Friday’s briefing in full below.
