Jen Psaki shuts down Fox reporter with reminder Trump suggested injecting bleach as COVID cure
White House press secretary Jen Psaki makes a speech during the daily press briefing on 11 August 2021. (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty)
White House press secretary Jen Psaki remains the queen of sass after she shot down a Fox reporter with a reminder that Trump suggested injecting disinfectant to fight COVID.
The trip down memory lane from the early days of the pandemic began when Pete Doocy, a reporter from Fox News, questioned Psaki during a White House briefing on Wednesday (11 August).
Doocy questioned whether a comment by Joe Biden in 2020 could have caused “vaccine hesitancy”, which has been a concern for the White House.
“At the time when Donald Trump is out there saying: ‘We’re going to have a vaccine in the next couple weeks, next couple months,’ and Joe Biden is out on the campaign trail saying: ‘Don’t trust Donald Trump’, did that create any kind of vaccine hesitancy?” Doocy asked.
In September 2020, then-presidential candidate Biden said he trusted vaccines and scientists, but he didn’t trust Trump. He ended the statement by saying: “And at this moment, the American people can’t either.”
Psaki shut down Doocy’s argument by stating the White House hadn’t seen any data supporting the idea that Biden’s remarks about Trump increased vaccine hesitancy in the American population.
She added: “I would note that at the time, just for context, the former president was also suggesting people inject versions of poison into their veins to cure COVID.
“So I think that’s a relevant point.”
Jen Psaki appeared to be referencing a daily briefing in April 2020 when the then-president suggested the US should study whether disinfectant – which is used to clear surfaces – could be an injectable COVID cure.
“And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?” Trump said.
“So it’d be interesting to check that.”
Shortly after Trump stated his dangerous idea to the public, medical experts and the makers of Lysol and Dettol lambasted the idea and pleaded with the public not to inject disinfectants.
Reckitt Benckiser, the parent company of disinfectants Lysol and Dettol, issued a statement that “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route)”.
