June 2, 2021

Jen Psaki has an opinion or three about Russian standing when it comes to human rights. She let loose when a reporter asked her about topics Russians are saying they'd like to discuss in the upcoming summit between President Biden and Vladamir Putin.

The reporter asked, stifling a smile (and possibly laughter,) "The Foreign Minister Lavrov indicated that Russia wants to be discussing human rights violations in the U.S., saying they're following with interest the persecution those persons who are accused of the riots on January 6th this year." Yeah, I'd be laughing too. She finished, "I'm wondering what you make of that, where you think this is coming from?" (*I'm* not wondering, and probably the reporter isn't wondering, either.)

Psaki let the bombs fly.

"Well, we don't use the Russian government as our guide to human rights models in the world, but I will say that the President has not held back on his view that the attacks on January 6th were a mark on democracy, a dark day in our own democracy, and certainly, I'm sure he'd be happy to repeat that," said our press secretary.

Of course, she wasn't going to leave it there. She went on to list topics on which President Biden might be holding Putin's feet to the fire, including "these cyberattacks and the use of ransomware, harboring criminal entities in your own country, also is their aggressive actions in Ukraine." Always ready to appear conciliatory and diplomatic, however, Psaki finished by talking about opportunities for collaboration between the two countries on "nuclear capabilities and security."

I'm going to miss her so much when she steps down.

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