Psaki defends criticism of thoughts and prayers after school shooting

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded Thursday to criticism of her recent “thoughts and prayers” comments following the Minnesota Catholic school shooting.

During a segment on her MSNBC show, the former Biden official criticized those who pushed back on her skepticism about the effectiveness of prayer in dealing with mass shootings. 

“So the issue I raised yesterday and I will raise again today and I will not stop raising, is that people in power, like, say, people in the White House, who are using their platforms to do anything other than call for action for sensible gun safety measures – they’re doing anything else, like attacking me, which is a waste of time, they’re doing anything but saying what should be done to help prevent tragedies like the shooting in Minneapolis,” she said.

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Psaki caught widespread backlash on Wednesday for her social media post decrying politicians and other public figures offering their thoughts and prayers in the wake of the shooting which left two schoolchildren dead and more than a dozen injured.

She wrote, “Prayer is not freaking enough.  Prayers does not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school.  Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.”

In a separate post, Psaki also used the tragedy to criticize the Trump administration’s crime crackdown in Washington, D.C.

“When kids are getting shot in their pews at a catholic school mass and your crime plan is to have national guard put mulch down around DC maybe rethink your strategy.” 

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to her predecessor in Thursday’s White House press briefing. 

“It is utterly disrespectful to deride the power of prayer in this country, and it is disrespectful to the millions of Americans of faith. And I would encourage Ms. Psaki to pray for these families themselves, who need it right now more than ever,” she said. 

During her show, Psaki replied to the same questions that White House correspondents asked Leavitt, including the one about Democratic leaders and Psaki herself criticizing the outpouring of “thoughts and prayers.”

“But here’s the thing, prayer is a powerful source of comfort for so many people around the world during difficult times, including me,” she replied. “I completely feel that way. And what I said yesterday and will say again now, though, is that prayer alone is not enough to prevent and end the crisis of gun violence in America. It’s not.”

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The MSNBC host continued by talking about gun violence in the country.

“We live in a country where there are more guns than people. There have been five school shootings since the start of the school year on August 1, less than a month ago, and 57 school shootings since January. And the fact that parents like me have to worry every day about whether or not our kids are safe at school is what we should be talking about.”

She questioned why the Trump administration hasn’t supported universal background checks for gun sales, tighter restrictions on the mentally ill obtaining guns, or a ban on assault weapons, noting that “the majority of the country” supports all three.

“Look, to solve this long epidemic of violence requires action. And when kids in pews who are praying are shot – to quote the statement from Sisters of Mercy on the Minnesota Catholic school shooting – our response can no longer be thoughts and prayers alone,” she added.