White House press secretary Jen Psaki denies McConnell’s claim that Biden hasn’t spoken with him since inauguration

• White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden speaks “regularly” with McConnell.
• The GOP leader suggested the exact opposite just hours earlier.
• The two have not yet had a meeting at the White House since Biden took office.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell talk often, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, contrary to the Kentucky Republican’s claim that they have not spoken since inauguration.

Psaki told reporters that Biden has a “long friendship” with McConnell and that the two speak “regularly.”

“We’re obviously not going to read out all of those calls,” Psaki said, but added that she expects their communication to continue.

Psaki’s comments came just hours after McConnell said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday that he had not been in touch with Biden since he took office.

“I don’t believe I have spoken with him since he was sworn in,” McConnell said. “We had a couple of conversations before then.”

McConnell’s office later corrected the statement, telling CNN that the GOP leader had spoken with the president on February 1 about the military coup in Myanmar but that they have not discussed Biden’s agenda.

McConnell’s office did not immediately return Insider’s request for comment.

McConnell added that he has yet not received an invitation from the White House for a meeting to address what he described as a lack of bipartisanship from the administration. Psaki told reporters that she is “sure” that the leaders will eventually get together at the White House but did not provide any concrete plans.

“So far this administration is not interested in doing anything on a bipartisan basis in the political center,” McConnell told Fox News. “They would be more than happy to pick off a few of our members and do what they would like to do but there has been no effort whatsoever by the president or the administration to do anything in the political center.”

Biden met with 10 Republican senators in the White House in February to discuss coronavirus relief, but ultimately the president rejected their demands to go lower on his $1.9 trillion economic package. In the end, the bill passed with the same price-tag and zero GOP support.