White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was more than ready for a ridiculous line of questioning from Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich at the daily press briefing.
Specifically, Heinrich asked why the U.S. government isn’t increasing domestic oil production, even though such an increase would have to come from oil companies, not the White House:
“On gas, you just said that, you know, less supply raises prices, it’s not in our strategic interest to reduce the supply. We also know, you know, the president as recently as yesterday talked about increasing domestic manufacturing to bring down prices on inflated items like goods. So why not apply the same logic to energy and increase domestic production here?”
Psaki calmly responded:
“Well, there are 9000 approved oil leases that the oil companies are not tapping into currently. So I would ask them that question.”
Heinrich:
“Is there nothing that the administration can do to get those providers back to pre-pandemic levels?”
The press secretary had the perfect comeback:
“Do you think the oil companies don’t have enough money to drill on the places that have been preapproved?”
That led the Fox reporter to whine:
“Just asking.”
Again, Psaki leveled Heinrich with her response:
“I would, I would point that question to them and we can talk about it more tomorrow when you learn more.”
From there, Heinrich moved on to another favorite Fox News/right-wing talking point:
“Do you think that opening the Keystone pipeline and having more energy-friendly policies might do that?”
Once again, Psaki used facts to destroy the Fox reporter’s idiotic query:
“The Keystone Pipeline has never been operational. It would take years for that to have any impact. I know a number of members of Congress have suggested that, but that is a proposed solution that has no relationship or would have no impact on what the problem is.”
However, Heinrich decided to continue the questions, even though she had already made a fool of herself:
“So during those years where it would take to bring down prices, as you’re saying, we should just continue to buy Russian oil?”
Psaki:
“Well, again, Jacqui, I think you’re familiar with a number of steps. We’ve taken a historic release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Well, let me finish what we can do over time and what this is all a reminder of in the president’s view. Is there a need to reduce our reliance on oil. The Europeans need to do that. We need to do that, if we do more to invest in clean energy, more to invest in other sources of energy. That’s exactly what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future. We welcome any Republicans from joining us in that effort.”
Seemingly determined to get the last word, Heinrich remarked:
“As long as we’re buying Russian oil, though, aren’t we financing the war?”
Psaki made it clear the possibility of banning all oil imports from Russia remains on the table:
“Well, Jacqui, again, it’s only about 10 percent of what we’re importing. I’ve not made any announcement about any decision on that front. But our objective here and our focus is making sure that any step we take maximizes the impact on President Putin and minimizes it on the American people. And anyone who’s calling for an end to the carveout should be clear that that would raise prices.”
Jen Psaki is a national treasure.
Here’s the video:
