Jen Psaki says hardest part of being Press Secretary was receiving threats against her family

Outgoing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, whose last day behind the famous lectern was Friday, told reporters before she departed that the hardest part of the job was the personal threats she received that targeted her children and family.

At a breakfast engagement the morning of her departure, Psaki told reporters, “I will say the thing that has been hardest personally is I’ve had threats. I have had nasty letters, texts to me with my personal address, the names of my children.” She added, “It crosses lines, and that’s when it becomes a little scary. And that has been the most personally difficult aspect of this job.”

Psaki said she has, on occasion, had to share information with the Secret Service related to threats to harm her children, who are 4 and 6 years old. She claims antagonists were provided with her personal address and other information that they used to target her and make threats against her family. 

While Psaki says thus far no one who has made threats has appeared at her home in Arlington, the fear that her family is still in danger has not subsided, as there is rumored to be “a circulation of [her] address among the Arlington Republican Party right now.” 

In response to Psaki’s statement, the Arlington Republican Party told Politico it “has not publicly disseminated any Biden Administration official’s home address, unlike the hordes of progressive activists online who have disseminated the addresses of Justices of the Supreme Court.”

Psaki will be succeeded in the role of White House Press Secretary by her former deputy, Karine Jean-Pierre.