Twitter users were shocked when White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki did not explicitly condemn pro-abortion activists planning to target Supreme Court justices’ homes to protest the possible overturning of Roe v Wade.
During the Thursday White House press briefing, Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy asked Psaki about the Biden administration’s official thoughts on leftists posting a map with the home addresses of the Supreme Court justices after a draft opinion to end Roe v Wade was leaked earlier this week. Protests have also been planned at Catholic churches this upcoming Mother’s Day.
Psaki’s response seemed to indicate a lack of concern for the safety of the justices.
She began by showing sympathy for the protesters, "Look, I think the president’s view is that there’s a lot of passion, a lot of fear, a lot of sadness from many, many people across this country about what they saw in that leaked document."
Psaki coolly acknowledged, "We obviously want peoples’ privacy to be respected. We want people to protest peacefully if they want to protest. That is certainly what the president’s view would be."
Doocy pressed her once more, "So he doesn’t care if they’re protesting outside the Supreme Court or outside someone’s private residence?"
"I don’t have an official U.S. government position on where people protest," she said, adding, "We want it, of course, to be peaceful" and Biden "would want people’s privacy to be respected."
Psaki then concluded with some serious sympathy with the protesters’ cause: "But I think we shouldn’t lose the point here. The reason people are protesting is because women across the country are worried about their fundamental rights that have been law for fifty years.
"Their rights to make choices about their own bodies and their own healthcare are at risk. That’s why people are protesting. They’re unhappy, they’re scared," she added.
Judicial Crisis Network president Carrie Severino shared a clip of the exchange on Twitter and commented, "Disgusting that the White House is refusing to condemn this."
Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-NY, tweeted, "Does anyone in the Biden Admin have the courage & decency to speak out in defense of the physical safety of our nine Supreme Court Justices?" He then accused the White House of inflaming the situation, adding, "The doxing & intimidation campaign targeting these Justices is illegal & Jen Psaki just used her platform to green light it."
"So Jen Psaki is okay with peaceful protests outside of her home? Is that the official White House position? #SCOTUS," conservative radio host Todd Starnes asked.
Newsbusters managing editor Curtis Houck also accused the Biden White House of greenlighting the harassment. "The left doesn't care who you are. As Jen Psaki just reiterated, if you do something they don't like, the U.S. government has greenlit and gave endorsement to harassing public officials at their homes in front of their young children," he said.
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"Jen Psaki wants conservative Supreme Court Justices harassed," warned Washington Times columnist Tim Young.
Conservative commentator Ian Miles Cheong observed, "Sounds like Psaki just gave the protesters a tacit endorsement of their activities."
Breitbart senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak tweeted, @PressSec Jen Psaki really reluctant to criticize protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices."
"Psaki twice refused to condemn protests at the homes of Supreme Court justices, thereby tacitly condoning it," tweeted former Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh. He added, "This was the purpose of the leaked draft opinion."
And former Republican communications guy Matt Whitlock tweeted angrily, "Seriously @PressSec this is just garbage from an absolutely garbage administration. These Justices have kids and have to leave their homes and you guys are actually encouraging it. Good riddance."