Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer had a mini-tantrum on his Newsmax show Wednesday after current White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested he was appointed to a Naval Academy board for political reasons. (Watch the clip below.)
President Joe Biden ousted Spicer, former Donald Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and other late-term Trump appointees to military academy boards earlier in the day. All were asked to resign or face dismissal.
“I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer and others were qualified, or not political, to serve on these boards,” Psaki said. “But the president’s qualification requirements are not your party registration. They are whether you’re qualified to serve and whether you are aligned with the values of this administration.”
Spicer, responding in a fit of pique, accused Psaki of violating a “tradition” that press secretaries don’t comment on each other. “Don’t you DARE ever minimize or question my service to this nation! You got it?” Spicer said.
Spicer, who was a public affairs officer in the Navy and joined the Navy’s Reserve in 1999, might have missed Psaki’s mention of “whether you are aligned with the values of this administration.”
Earlier, Spicer defiantly proclaimed he would not resign and would join a lawsuit resisting his ouster.