On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to reports of alleged nepotism in the White House. She claimed that the current White House maintains the “highest ethical standards” of any other administration.
Psaki also mentioned that there are a number of ethics officials who support her statement, agreeing that the Biden administration is indeed has the “highest ethical standards”. She added that they are proud of that.
After reports of Biden administration jobs going to children and relatives of top aides, @nancycordes asks what "safeguards" are in place to prevent "preferential treatment"
Psaki: "We have the highest ethical standards of any administration in history" https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/gIc5S1pHYB
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 21, 2021
White House Press Secretary claims that their administration is “the most diverse”
The White House press secretary also mentioned that their administration is “the most diverse” in American history; Psaki then added that they certainly expect all the others to abide by these high ethical standards.
Psaki (whose sister was hired in March to work as a senior adviser in the Department of Health and Human Services) did, however, acknowledged that her sister was hired by the Biden administration. She defended her sister, Stephanie Psaki, saying that she is more than qualified.
Other than Psaki sisters, there are other Biden officials whose family members gained position in the White House; this includes Jake Sullivan, National Security Adviser whose wife, brother, and sister in law who respectively work for the Justice Department, State Department, and Department of Health and Human Services.
Evan Ryan, the wife of Secretary of State Antony Blinken also works for the White House as Cabinet Secretary.
Monica Medin, the wife of Chief of Staff Ron Klain, also works for the White House as Biden’s nominee for assistant secretary of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Science Affairs.
Bob Bauer, the husband of Biden Senior Adviser Anita Dunn, works as a co-chair of the president’s commission that investigates court-packing.
In some cases the family members hired are qualified; in some cases, they’re not
In several cases, the family members hired by the White House have a good deal of experience, particularly during their time in the Obama White House. However, for others, this is not the case.
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. pic.twitter.com/kZCi1tHONH
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) June 16, 2021
Walter Shaub, former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics during Obama’s administration, criticized the fact that J.J. Ricchetti was hired in the office of legislative affairs as a special assistant, despite having less experience than others in the position.
Other than J.J. Ricchetti, there are two other Ricchetti siblings that were hired by the Biden administration: Shannon Ricchetti (working as deputy associate director at the social secretary in the White House) and Daniel Ricchetti (who was hired as a senior adviser in the office of the undersecretary).
Meanwhile, in a statement earlier this month by Andrew Bates, he mentioned there is nothing illegal about choosing people with strong qualifications and credentials who happen to be related to other staffers in the White House.
