Jen Psaki poked holes in the Republicans’ continued insistence that they’re the party of “family values” — especially considering their continued defense of former President Donald Trump after he was found liable last week for sexual abuse and defamation against E. Jean Carroll.
“The problem for them is that no matter how hard they try to spin themselves as the party of family values to create fake controversies, that’s hard to do with a straight face given the de facto leader of their party has now been branded a sexual abuser,” Psaki said on Sunday’s “Inside” on MSNBC.
She specifically sniped prominent Republican figures like Sens. Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio for hypocritical statements made in their former president’s defense.
“Ahead of the 2024 election, Republicans are doing everything they can to define themselves as the party of ‘family values,’ like kicking up a moral panic around education, gender and any discussion of sexuality. But that plan has one big problem, and his name is Donald Trump,” Psaki began.
She added that following Trump being unanimously found liable by a jury on Tuesday, he continued mocking Carroll on his town hall with CNN Wednesday night.
“The following day at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, he openly mocked his accuser to the laughter and applause of Republican voters in the audience,” she said. “It was definitely disturbing, but unfortunately not necessarily surprising, because why should Republican voters take Trump’s wrongdoing seriously when the party leaders never call him out?”
“Let’s be honest,” Psaki continued. “This shouldn’t be a difficult question. If someone asks you, ‘Do you stand by somebody who was found liable for sexual abuse?’ the answer should be some version of no. But outside of a handful of Republican lawmakers, they have by and large pretty much avoided criticizing the former president.”
That’s when she quoted the likes of Graham, Rubio, Sen. Bill Hagerty, Sen. Tommy Tuberville and former vice president Mike Pence to illustrate the party’s growing hypocrisy when faced with the subject of their “de facto leader.”
“The most common Republican refrain was indifference,” Psaki said.
“Look, all of these Republicans are free to say something as simple as this: Donald Trump’s behavior is not what my party stands for. They are free, they have been free, to do something about him, but I guess, why start now?” Psaki concluded. “The problem for them is that no matter how hard they try to spin themselves as the party of family values to create fake controversies, that’s hard to do with a straight face given the de facto leader of their party has now been branded a sexual abuser. Somehow, at least in public, they seem to be OK with that.”
Watch the full “Inside With Jen Psaki” segment in the video above.
