Once again, a White House reporter seems unable to distinguish between Donald Trump's actions and those of an administration allowing Congress and the DOJ to hold him accountable for his crimes. In this case, it's Ed O'Keefe, and both he and CBS should be ashamed.
Regarding the White House Counsel's Office's decision to hand over documents to the Select Committee investigating...well, ya know... A VIOLENT, SEDITIOUS RIOT against the Capitol, sitting members of Congress, overt attempts to murder the vice president and Speaker of the House, and overthrow a legally elected government, O'Keefe decides to act as if the circumstances aren't extraordinary.
"[H]as there been any concern or conversation about what might happen when the shoe's on the other foot, and if another administration of the other party comes in and says this is an extraordinary circumstance, and they want to hand over documents that were deemed privileged by the Biden administration?" he asked, referring to the Biden administration's decision to allow the Archives to hand over documents over which Trump has claimed are protected by executive privilege.
Psaki answered, "I can assure you that this president has no intention to lead an insurrection on our nation's Capitol --"
O'Keefe shows his hand, then by saying, "I anticipated that would be your answer almost word-for-word --" in which case, the question is, why did he ask it, if not to equate Trump's actions with those of a typical, law-abiding president's? If not to normalize the Trump administration, his criminal cronies, and his dangerous, violent MAGA cult?
He continued, "You can understand that you're opening, potentially, a Pandora's Box, by setting this precedent."
Refusing to accomodate his mansplaining twerpitude, Psaki corrected him.
"Actually, we don't see it that way. I understand why you're asking this question, we talked about this a little bit last week as well. I think it is ultimately important for people to understand and remember that January 6th was an incredibly dark day, one of the darkest days in our democracy. There was an insurrection on our nation's Capitol," she explained for the thrillionth time.
"What we're talking about, here, is getting to the bottom of that. Shouldn't everybody want to get to the bottom of that? Democrats, Republicans, people who have no political affiliation whatsoever," she continued.
You'd think so, wouldn't you? Not so, if your goal is to normalize chaos and throw doubt on the validity of all future elections. Not so, if your goal is to gaslight people into thinking the riotous MAGAts were simply "tourists."
Psaki concluded, "But I think if you look back at past presidents, Democratic and Republican, there isn't really a precedent to what we're talking about with this Select Committee, and what we're trying to get to the bottom of, and the uniqueness of that, I think, is important context."
Uniqueness. This is a singular situation. Of course executive privilege is to be respected. Unless the executive in question is a criminal autocrat with a penchant for cruelty and utter lawlessness, who also happens to be beholden to at least one enemy country, probably more.
And if you need more evidence that the Beltway Press has lost any right to be taken seriously at all, see the following:
Question: Has he called Matthew McConaughey and urged him to run?
Psaki: I can confirm there has been no calls to Matthew McConaughey from this office that I am aware of pic.twitter.com/AExMnRvTSX— Acyn (@Acyn) October 14, 2021
It's f*ckin' embarrassing.
