OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki appeared to struggle on Tuesday afternoon when a reporter asked what Joe Biden was busy doing that day, and now we know why she tried to dodge the question.
During the press briefing, a reporter asked Psaki: “The president has nothing on his schedule today aside from the PDB. Can you shed any light on how he’s spending his day?”
“Well, let’s see, um, this morning I think he had some policy meetings, uh, also a PDB meeting,” Psaki said. “Uh, he, um, later this afternoon, uh, I think is doing some remarks review. There are some days that we spend some time doing internal meetings and discussions, uh, with policy experts, with policy leaders, um, and that’s that’s what’s happening today.”
WATCH:
Jen Psaki struggles to explain why Biden’s schedule is so empty today. pic.twitter.com/Xh00o8jD8G
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 25, 2022
So what was Biden actually doing on Tuesday?
He was shopping and getting ice cream while the world is bracing for the possibility of Russia invading Ukraine.
After the briefing on Tuesday, Reuters reporter Jeff Mason tweeted out photographs showing Biden around Washington, D.C., where he went to an ice cream shop and at least one store.
“@POTUS visits a boutique store on Capitol Hill called Honey Made,” Mason tweeted. “Products at Honey Made include RBG and @KamalaHarris mugs and oven mitts.”
.@POTUS visits a boutique store on Capitol Hill called Honey Made. pic.twitter.com/cYq3xTiqr7
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) January 25, 2022
Products at Honey Made include RBG and @KamalaHarris mugs and oven mitts. pic.twitter.com/pinVLfCg62
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) January 25, 2022
“The President made a quick pitstop at the ice cream shop this afternoon after a visit to neighboring boutique Honey Made, where he admired necklaces on the wall for ‘my wife,’ examined a coaster with a German shepherd on it, and picked up a Kamala Harris mug,” The Washingtonian reported. “Early pool reports are vague, however, on what Biden ordered at Jeni’s other than it was a cone with two scoops—’light colored flavor on bottom, darker ice cream on top.’ POTUS waved the cone at pool reporters before heading off in his motorcade.”
And now a stop for ice cream. pic.twitter.com/PFAOL6OUq9
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) January 25, 2022
Ice cream. pic.twitter.com/P84JGtxtbk
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) January 25, 2022
While Biden was shopping and getting ice cream, his Biden administration is dispatching U.S. military and special operations, tactical teams, to the American Embassy in Ukraine after Moscow warned that a “countdown” is now underway as tens of thousands of Russian troops remain deployed around the eastern European country’s perimeter.
The special operations teams, which were “quietly” sent to Kyiv over the past few days, came after Secretary of State Antony Blinken rebuffed Ukrainian pleas for the U.S. to impose hefty sanctions on Russia for its perceived aggression.
The teams arrived last week, shortly before U.S. Embassy families were ordered to begin evacuating Ukraine, said the sources, who have direct knowledge of the events.
“This means that they’re anticipating violence or complete deterioration in short order,” said former Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent Dale McElhattan, who has taken part in diplomatic evacuations.
Western governments became alarmed last week when Konstantin Gavrilov, who led a Russian delegation to the Vienna Negotiations on Military Security and Arms Control, issued what seemed like a dire warning.
“There arrives a moment of truth when the West either accepts our proposals or other ways will be found to safeguard Russia’s security,” Gavrilov said, according to the Tass news agency. “I am convinced that with goodwill and a willingness to compromise in any situation, it is possible to find a way out to mutually acceptable solutions. We are running out of time. The countdown begins.”
Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, have pressed the Biden administration to impose sanctions on Russia before any attack as a means of deterring aggression, but the White House has refused.
“When it comes to sanctions, the purpose of those sanctions is to deter Russian aggression,” Blinken told CNN’s State of the Union program.
But last week following Gavrilov’s remarks, the State Department ordered families of embassy personnel and other non-essential staffers out of Ukraine.
And over the weekend, Biden himself was blasted on social media after the State Dept. announced it could not guarantee evacuation for U.S. citizens who have decided to remain in the country.
