Psaki reassures reporters that Biden doesn’t have COVID amid newest outbreak

Someone asked Psaki if whether or not there was a current outbreak of COVID in the White House and in DC agencies, given the recent spree of political figures in Biden’s potential vicinity that he may have been in contact with.

The White House Press Secretary said President Biden wasn’t in quarantine and had a "full schedule."

However, according to the publicly available version of that schedule, the last thing on Joe’s agenda was at 1:30 PM.

Jen Psaki continued:

"We will provide information to all of you as outlined with our commitment from just a few months ago about being transparent about close contacts. I don't have any updates for you at this point in time. But again, we expect there to be breakthrough cases across the country, right? And certainly in the federal government."

Psaki’s added how "99 percent or more" of the White House staff are vaccinated, and stressed the importance of boosters. She made her remarks on the backdrop of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, as well as Democrat Rep. Jason Crow announcing their positive COVID diagnoses despite being fully vaccinated and having an additional booster shot.

Other highlights of Monday’s briefing include Psaki responding to Manchin’s public rebuffing of Biden’s Build Back Better bill. A matter that provoked a rare weekend response from the Press Secretary.

On Tuesday President Biden is expected to give a speech about the administration’s response going forward as to the Omicron variant. Psaki promised it won’t be a speech "about locking the country down."

However, she noted that the supply shortage of COVID tests was a point of concern for the White House.