Megan Rapinoe asks Psaki if she gets nervous as press secretary

U.S. soccer player Megan Rapinoe asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki if she gets nervous being up at the podium for briefings during the star’s visit to the White House on Wednesday.

During an impromptu visit to the White House press briefing room, Psaki invited Rapinoe to step behind the podium to “see what it feels like up there.” 

Rapinoe commented that it felt “so much smaller” than she imagined, adding, “it’s nerve-wracking. Do you get nervous up here?”

“I mean some days you feel like there’s some big stakes,” Psaki responded. “But it’s also fun and an honor to be up there.”

.@USWNT‘s Megan Rapinoe and Margaret Purce (@mPinoe & @100Purcent) visit the White House Press Briefing Room. pic.twitter.com/YpkwLIRuqx

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 24, 2021

The soccer player visited the White House for an event commemorating Equal Pay Day and later met with President Biden, along with other members of the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT).

Equal Pay Day represents the day each year that women have to work until to make the same amount that men did the entire year before. 

In the briefing room, Rapinoe took a few questions while up at the podium, including on how she felt being at the White House for Equal Pay Day.

“It’s really amazing. I think both of us feel honored to even be invited and continue the fight that we’ve had for a long time,” she said, noting Biden’s administration was “much more welcoming, obviously, so that’s nice.”

In 2019, Rapinoe announced that she would not visit former President Trump’s White House if the USWNT won the World Cup, which the team later did. 

Biden had vowed to combat the gender pay inequities, including through encouraging Congress to pursue the Paycheck Fairness Act that passed the House almost two years ago.