DOOCY: “Why weren’t President Biden and all members of the Biden family masked at all times on federal lands last night if he signed an Executive Order that mandates masks on federal lands at all times?”
PSAKI: “At the inaugural–“
DOOCY: “At the Lincoln Memorial, yes.”
PSAKI: “I, I think Steve, he was celebrating an evening uh, uh, of a historic day in our country, and certainly he signed the mask mandate because it’s a way to send a message [to] the American public about the importance of, uh, wearing masks, how it can save tens of thousands of lives. We take a number of COVID precautions as you know here in terms of testing, social distancing, mask wearing ourselves as we do every single day, but I don’t know that I have more for you on it than that.”
DOOCY: “But [as] Joe Biden often talks about, it is not just important the example of power, but the power of our example. Was that a good example for people who were watching [that] might not being paying attention normally?”
PSAKI: “Well Steve, I think the power of his example is also the message he sends by signing 25 Executive Orders, including almost half of them related to COVID, uh, the requirements that we’re all under every single day here to ensure we’re sending that message to the public. Yesterday was a historic moment in our history, he was inaugurated as President of the United States. He was surrounded by his family. We take a number of precautions, but I think we have bigger issues to worry [about].”