White House press secretary gets attacked by an ‘aggressive bug’ during press briefing

Does anyone need a fly swatter?

Since taking on the role as White House press secretary, Jen Psaki is no stranger to intense discussions with reporters. But none of them have bugged her in a way that one flying pest did during Monday’s press briefing.

Psaki was in the middle of answering a question from Peter Alexander, NBC News’ chief White House correspondent, about whether or not leaving behind billions of dollars worth of United States military equipment to the Taliban makes America unsafe.

And, as she started to answer the question, she was caught off guard by something— a bug that flew in her face.

“Woah,” Psaki said as she began to swat the insect, before apologising for the obtrusion.

“Sorry, that was an aggressive bug,” she said.

Psaki spent some time swatting but still answered Alexander’s query.

Throughout the years, political figures had face-offs with insects that caused public reactions.

For example, one of the most notable would have to be when a fly planted itself on former Vice President Mike Pence’s head while in a live debate against now Vice President Kamala Harris.

For over two minutes, the bug remained atop of Pence’s head as he and Harris went toe to toe answering questions about their campaigns during the vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 2016, a bug also landed on Hillary Clinton’s face (the then-presidential candidate) during a US Presidential debate with now former President Donald Trump.

Onlookers were a bit confused about her assumed inability to realize, but the insect was actually on her during her battle with Trump on live television at Washington University.

In good old social media fashion, within minutes of the appearance, the fly had a Twitter account dedicated to it called @FliesForHillary.

"Showing my support for Hillary! I can’t believe I’m on TV!" a tweet from the account said.