President Joe Biden’s administration took some heat regarding nepotism recently and the White House press secretary took a shot at defending the administration. While making her defense, she used some superlatives that would have made Trump proud.
Jen Psaki, Biden’s press secretary, responded to the challenges regarding nepotism in the White House saying that the Biden Administration has higher ethical standards than any other presidential administration ever.
“Let me say first that we have the highest ethical standards of any administration in history,” Psaki said. “A number of ethics officials have conveyed that and we’re proud of that. We’ve also staffed up at an unprecedented pace and this is the most diverse administration in American history. So we certainly expect that everyone will abide by those high ethics standards. It applies in how we operate it also applies in how hiring is done.”
Psaki was not asked a follow-up question from the loving press even though her sister was appointed a senior adviser in the Department of Health and Human Services in March, according to Fox News.
The press secretary did acknowledge that her sister was hired by the administration in a tweet last week. She wrote that her sister is more qualified than I am to be here.
But that is just the tip of the D.C. iceberg. Here are some other families that got positions with the White House administration: National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, whose wife, brother, and sister-in-law all work for the Justice Department, State Department, and Department of Health and Human Services; Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s wife Evan Ryan is the White House Cabinet Secretary, and Chief of Staff Ron Klain’s wife Monica Medina is the president’s nominee for assistant secretary of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Science Affairs.
Think we are finished? No…
Biden Senior Adviser Anita Dunn’s husband Bob Bauer is a co-chair of the president’s commission that’s investigating packing the Supreme Court.
To be fair, many of these people have significant experience that includes serving in the Obama administration. But that is not true for all of them.
In fact, Walter Shaub, former President Barack Obama’s director of the United States Office of Government Ethics, challenged the fact that J.J. Ricchetti got hired as a special assistant in the office of legislative affairs. Shaub said he had less experience than others who were hired with the same title.
“Let’s play a game. See if you can guess which one of these special assistants at the treasury department has a daddy who’s one of the top aides to the president. See if you can guess the economic background of this privileged white boy,” Schaub tweeted.
J.J.’s father Steve Ricchetti is a counselor to the president.
Two other Ricchetti siblings have positions in the White House administration too: Daniel Ricchetti is a senior adviser in the office of the undersecretary of State for arms control and international security, and Shannon Ricchetti is deputy associate director at the office of the White House social secretary.
There is still more to come…
Julia Reed, the Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed’s daughter, was recently hired as Biden’s day scheduler, according to Politico.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement earlier this month that “there is nothing wrong with hiring people who have strong credentials and qualifications and happen to be relatives of other staffers.”
But many, like Schaub, have been highly critical of the administration.
“EVEN THE F-ING HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL PERSONNEL, WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE KEEPING THEM HONEST, HAS A CHILD WHO’S A RECENT COLLEGE GRAD WORKING IN THE ADMINISTRATION. AND THE SPOUSE OF THE WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD,” Schaub said in a tweet.
She was referencing Sarah Donilon, who is the daughter of Office of Presidential Personnel Director Cathy Russell.
“The highest ethical standards of any administration in history…”
