President Biden’s former press secretary Jen Psaki made the stunning admission Wednesday that her ex-boss’s executive order on the besieged southern border was to address a “political vulnerability” ahead of the 2024 election — after the president refused to answer questions about the timing of the action.
The order, announced Tuesday, will shut down the US-Mexico border if the number of immigrants crossing tops 2,500 a day for seven consecutive days. It will stay in effect until two weeks after daily crossings average 1,500 per day for seven days, officials said.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Psaki spoke candidly about how Biden’s political calculations led to the most recent executive order.
“There needs to be something that’s done, but also, politically, this is one of the biggest vulnerabilities,” the former White House press secretary said.
“And regardless of who’s mad about the details of what’s in here and what isn’t in here, it’s a political vulnerability for the president and his campaign. They know that,” she added.
“They knew they would have to do something like an executive order before the election politically as well. And that’s what we’re seeing play out.”
Biden declined to take any questions on his action when it was announced Tuesday, including the clearly audible query, “Why now?” — with critics pointing out that the move comes five months and one day before the Nov. 5 election.
Biden’s new order, which would still see at least 1.8 million asylum seekers into America each year even if fully enforced, has faced mounting criticism from both sides of the political spectrum, with many Republicans blasting it as a political ploy ahead of the 2024 election.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) took to X to call Biden out for the political power play, writing, “Biden’s executive order is a ploy to trick the American people before November. In his first 100 days in office he issued 94 executive orders to OPEN the border because that has been his goal all along.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) expressed a similar sentiment, noting the executive order is “an admission that he had the ability to solve the border crisis, but instead did nothing. Waiting until 3.5 years into his presidency to lift a finger is nothing more than election-year camouflage.”
Even former President Donald Trump, who was convicted last week of 34 felony counts in his hush money trial, called out Biden for the timing of the order.
“Crooked Joe Biden is pretending to finally do something about the border — but in fact, it’s all for show,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The executive ruling even divided some members of Biden’s own party. While some, like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), said it was “a lot better than doing nothing,” on the Senate Floor Tuesday, according to Axios, others expressed more outright disappointment.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said Biden “undermined American values” with an executive order that would ultimately “fail to address the challenges” and would cause those seeking safety to be put in harm’s way.
Meanwhile, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) called the order “outrageous.”
“Seeking asylum is a human right. President Biden promised to end cruel Trump-era immigration policies, not resume them. We need to stop the dehumanization of migrants who are escaping violence and seeking a better life for their families,” she wrote on X.