Psaki Dodges Questions On Biden Looking At His Watch During Dignified Transfer

During Tuesday’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was questioned about an incident in which President Biden repeatedly looked at his watch during the dignified transfer of the bodies of the 13 U.S. service members who were killed in a bombing in Afghanistan last week.

“Some of the Gold Star families have criticized the President — President’s conduct at the dignified transfer,” a reporter said. “There was a father of one Marine who said that the President appeared to be checking his watch every time a flag-draped transfer case came out of the plane.  And a sister of another Marine said that it felt like a fake and scripted apology.”

“Was the President looking at his watch?” the reporter asked Psaki. “And does he have a message to those people who felt that they were offended?”

“I would say his message to all of the family members who were there, those who were not even in attendance is that he is grateful to their sons and daughters, the sacrifice they made to the country, that he knows firsthand what it’s like to lose a child, and the fact that no one can tell you anything or say anything, or there’s no words that are going to fill that hole that is left by that,” Psaki responded. “He’s not going to speak to, and I’m not going to speak to the private conversations. Of course, they have the right to convey whatever they would like.”

“But I will tell you from spending a lot of time with him over the past couple of days, that he was deeply impacted by these family members who he met just two days ago, that he talks about them frequently in meetings and the incredible service and sacrifice of their sons and daughters,” Psaki claimed. “That is not going to change their suffering, but I wanted to convey that still.”

#BREAKING: Asked by Fox's @JacquiHeinrich, Jen Psaki refuses to deny or rebut the images and video of President Biden checking his watch during Sunday's dignified transfer of the 13 U.S. soldiers who died in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/PMgEzYM0r1

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 31, 2021

Psaki’s comments come after Gold Star father Darin Hoover, who lost his son Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover in the attack, slammed Biden for checking his watch during the dignified transfer ceremony.

“In reference to the checking of his watch, that didn’t happen just once,” Hoover said on Fox News. “That happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them. They would release the salute, and he would look down at his watch on every last one – all 13 – he looked down at his watch.”