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Psaki Blames ‘Extraordinarily Elevated’ 8.5% Inflation on ‘Putin Price Hike’

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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki appears to be trying to blunt the impact of today’s expected inflation numbers, warning they will be “extraordinarily elevated.”

Although inflation has been trending up since President Biden’s arrival in the White House, she was quick to blame the Russian invasion.

“We expect March CPI headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin’s price hike,” Psaki told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday.

“We expect a large difference between core and headline inflation, reflecting the global disruptions in energy and food markets,” she added.

Listen to how many times she packs the phrase ‘Putin price hike’ or references to the Russian President in the span of the following 60-second clip.

RELATED: Biden Warns About ‘Real’ Food Shortages Amid Already-Record Inflation And Gas Prices

Extraordinarily Elevated Inflation Due to ‘Putin’s Price Hike’

Psaki’s harrowing prediction comes as consumer prices spiked last month at a new 40-year high of 7.9% from the previous February according to numbers provided by the Labor Department. Month over month, prices spiked at 0.8%.

According to U.S. News and Axios, March data will be worse than expected.

“Get ready for a nasty inflation report,” Axios reported Monday. “A new inflation reading is due out Tuesday morning, and it looks to be a doozy.”

The inflation number is “likely to be ugly for March,” writes U.S. News & World Report.

Axios adds, “Gasoline prices alone are a major culprit” with “the average gallon of gasoline cost $4.08 in March, according to government data, up 20% from February.”

RELATED: Former Obama Adviser Slams President: It’s ‘Biden’s Inflation,’ Own It

It’s Going to Be Bad

Psaki continued by addressing the gas price situation as if they only started rising due to ‘Putin’s price hike.’

“At times, gas prices were more than one dollar above pre-invasion levels, so that roughly 25% increase in gas prices will drive tomorrow’s inflation reading,” Psaki said.

Let’s not forget: Despite the catchy phrase, February saw price increases that were reflective of the twelve months. FinalIn February didn’t include the oil and gas price surges that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of that month.

Nice try, Jen.

The White House press secretary was confronted by a reporter who pointed out that rising inflation predated Putin’s war in Ukraine. 

She Continues to Blame the Pandemic

Psaki insisted Putin’s invasion was mostly to blame.

“We talked about inflation long before there was an invasion,” she replied. “But we also know that factually … it’s about a 25 percent, we’ve seen, increase in gas prices since the start of this invasion. And we know energy prices is a big driver of the inflation data.”

Then, she flipped to her old pandemic blame-game.

“We’ve long talked about, since at least I started this job since the President came into office, the impacts of the pandemic on supply chains, how that’s impacted a range of costs, and steps we’re taking to address those,” she explained.

It is who’s fault.

Americans lose patience with Biden

To answer the previous question – America is beginning to view President Biden’s handling of inflation in a negative light.

CBS News reports “the rising costs of food, gas and rent have Americans concerned, and it’s taking a toll on President Biden’s approval rating.”

A new poll, they write, “suggests Americans may be losing patience with Biden on the economy.”

In that CBS News/YouGov poll, roughly 69% of respondents disapproved of Biden’s handling of inflation. Even within Democrats, 41% were dissatisfied with the way Biden addresses inflation.

It’s Biden’sPrice hike

Former Obama adviser Steven Rattner slammed the administration last month for trying to pin record-high inflation on Putin saying President Biden needs to “own it.”

Consumer prices have increased at least 5% annually over the past 11 months.

UPDATE – The Bureau of Labor Statistics has just published the updated numbers. They show that inflation rose at 8.5% year over year. This is the largest increase since December 1981.