White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday suggested that there were more leaks under former President Trump than there are now due to infighting among administration officials during the previous four years.
“There’s not a lot of ‘Game of Thrones’ drama here, which feels like it may be a bit of … a shift from the last four years,” Psaki said when asked about the lack of leaks to the media at a conference hosted by the Financial Times.
In an interview with the Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf, Psaki said many White House staffers have a long history of working with Biden, and that’s created a different kind of atmosphere in the West Wing.
“The culture of this White House is very much a put your head down, get to work, do your thing, be a part of the team,” Psaki said.
But while there may be fewer leaks compared to the Trump era, Biden has come under criticism for not being as accessible to the media as his predecessor.
Psaki on Thursday disputed the notion that Biden is reluctant to interact with the media, even though he’s held only one formal press conference since taking office.
Although the White House did not answer questions from The Hill about timing for Biden’s next formal press conference, Psaki told the Financial Times that he does plan on holding more.
“He actually enjoys that back and forth and takes questions, I think, more than almost most presidents in modern history … in terms of the frequency of how often he takes questions from reporters,” she said, noting that Biden answered questions shouted by reporters at least 77 times in his first 100 days in office, according to a presidential historian.
As for Psaki’s tenure with the White House, she told the Financial Times there’s a good chance she won’t be leaving her job as press secretary early next year, despite previously suggesting she would.
“I think this has been a little bungled out there, [me] walking out the door on day 365,” Psaki said. “I have flexibility and can stay longer and likely will stay longer.”