MSNBC host and former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki devoted a segment to online speculation surrounding President Donald Trump's health on Tuesday, lamenting that "we may never know" why he "suddenly spent a week hiding" from the public.
"You really can’t make this stuff up sometimes," Psaki said, pointing to the president denying rumors of his death during a White House press event earlier in the day. The MSNBC host argued Trump's response was rambling, adding, "And look, we may never know why Donald Trump suddenly spent a week hiding entirely from the American public, but you don’t actually need baseless online conspiracies to explain why he might not want to show his face in public right now."
Trump told reporters Tuesday that he was "very active" over Labor Day weekend. Psaki, however, suggested several possible reasons he may have avoided public appearances.
MSNBC host Jen Psaki speaks onstage at 92NY on May 08, 2024, in New York City. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
JEN PSAKI INSISTS SHE 'NEVER SAW' DIMINISHED BIDEN WHILE WORKING AS PRESS SECRETARY
"For starters, there’s the polling, and boy, is it brutal. Americans are more and more pessimistic about their lives right now. A newly released Wall Street Journal poll finds that the percentage of Americans who think they have a good chance of improving their standard of living has fallen to just 25%, which is a new low in nearly four decades of polling that particular question," Psaki continued.
She also argued during the segment that Trump had been "reluctant to show his face in public for a week" because of "his absolute failure to try and make people forget about his 15-year friendship with child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein."
"Lord knows that could be a reason," Psaki said. "Maybe the biggest reason Trump has been so shy recently is that a lot of this pushback appears to be working."
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki spoke with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
Psaki was accused of "hypocrisy" and a lack of "self-awareness" by conservative commentators and social media users after the segment aired.
The liberal MSNBC host had previously downplayed concerns about former President Biden's advanced age and cognitive abilities before the June 2024 CNN debate in Atlanta between Biden and Trump.
RealClearPolitics co-founder Tom Bevan said Psaki was right about one thing, writing on X, "You can't make this stuff up."
One user responded to a clip of Psaki and said, "It's called hypocrisy at its finest."
"Just incredible that Jen Psaki is trying this. Astonishing even," another wrote.
Martha Zoller, a conservative political commentator, argued that Psaki had "no authority to comment on this" because she worked for Biden.
Psaki insisted during a podcast in early May that she never saw a diminished Biden while she was working for him.
"I never saw that person — not a single time, and I was in the Oval Office every day, that was on that debate stage," Psaki said on the "Mixed Signals" podcast.
"I'm not a doctor," she added. "Aging happens quite quickly."
Psaki joined MSNBC in 2022. In 2023, she brushed off concerns about Biden's age and said he was better than the alternative.
"Joe Biden isn't perfect. No candidate is, by the way. But we have to understand what the alternative is here. If elected to a second term, Donald Trump would prosecute anyone he deems an enemy, unleash troops on protesters, and essentially unravel the rule of law as we know it, and this time, he plans to align his administration with people who will actually do it. But sure, Joe Biden is three years older and occasionally trips on things," she told MSNBC viewers at the time.
Former President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference on the final day of the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
MSNBC did not immediately return a request for comment.