Jen Psaki finally edits the 'lie' about Biden checking his watch during ceremony for Afghanistan withdrawal victims
- Jen Psaki updated the text of her book to correct her mention of the president looking at his watch
- READ MORE: Jen Psaki slammed by Gold Star families of 13 service members
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki has circled back and decided to say less about a critical error in her book 'Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World.'
Paski found herself in hot water from journalists, after she falsely claimed in her book that the story of President Joe Biden checking his watch at a dignified transfer ceremony for military service members from Afghanistan was 'misinformation.'
'Sadly, that day’s visit quickly became controversial because of a combination of misinformation and miscommunication,' she wrote. 'The misinformation came in the form of a single photo of the president looking at his watch during the ceremony.'
The book was released on May 7th.
After Axios reporter Alex Thompson reported the error, Psaki said she would update the text of the digital book to clarify the 'detail in a few lines of the book about the exact number of times he looked at his watch.'
But Psaki's edit is much more drastic than she initially indicated as more than 150 words of the text describing the day's events have been removed entirely.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki has circled back and decided to say less about a critical error in her book 'Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World'
The new version of the book makes no mention of the president looking at his watch, thus avoiding any verdict on whether or not the reported, fact-checked account was true.
Psaki has also dodged any mention of her embarrassing error during her book tour.
During a book event conversation with Dan Pfieffer, her former boss in the Obama administration, Psaki recalled the story of Biden's meeting with the families of the 13 soldiers killed during the disastrous exit from Afghanistan.
She spoke about learning that the New York Times had 'seized' on the story about the families who were upset after their meeting with Biden.
Psaki said the military family members were upset that Biden spoke about losing his own son Beau Biden, but made no mention of their criticism of the president for looking at his watch.
'He had gone to Dover for the bodies of the men and women who had lost their lives who had returned home with their families,' she said. 'Afterwards, some of the families, not all, came out and said they didn't appreciate that he had talked about his own story and that didn't help him.'
US President Joe Biden looks down at his watch alongside First Lady Jill Biden as they attend the dignified transfer of the remains of fallen service members at Dover Air Force Base.
The difference between the old version of Psaki's book (red) and the updated version (green) The highlighted text illustrates what was edited out of the book.
She spoke about the difficulty of informing the president that the families were 'offended and upset' by his actions at the dignified transfer ceremony.
'It is your responsibility in moments where you are working for somebody and other aspects of your life to, to be able to deliver tough news,' she said. 'And so that's kind of part of the lesson of that and certainly that moment has stuck with me.'
The gold star military family members were upset after learning about the initial error in Psaki's book.
’Jen Psaki’s claim in her book that this was "misinformation" is not only dishonest but reinforces the contempt which Biden Administration officials have shown us in the aftermath of Abbey Gate terrorist attack that took the lives of our children, they said in an exclusive statement to DailyMail.com.
Jen Psaki speaks about her new book on ABC's 'The View' during her book tour that was disrupted by a critical error that was discovered in the text.
‘We watched in horror as President Biden looked at his wristwatch on multiple occasions during the dignified transfer of our children in Dover,’ they said.
Psaki was also criticized by Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, who threatened to issue a subpoena if she did not answer questions about the incident from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
'The Committee will not tolerate Ms. Psaki’s continued obstruction of its critical investigation and is prepared to use all the tools at its disposal to ensure America’s representatives speak with her,' he wrote in a letter to Psaki's lawyers.
Psaki said that since she left the Biden team for her job at MSNBC, she had not heard any negative feedback from the White House, but was grateful that she had a job at the left-leaning MSNBC network that did not require her to do so.
'I mean I work at MSNBC, no one's ever asked me to be down the middle and neutral and pretend I have no view about abortion rights and democracy, I have a view,' she said. 'So that's a benefit.'
