https://twitter.com/EPOfficialYT/status/1515026957397901314?s=20&t=8MhFHRhXjXiQT7t-WPBYcA
Dear Commons Community,
As she gets set to leave the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki is looking back on her adversarial relationship with Fox News reporter Peter Doocy.
At a live taping (see video above) of the “Pod Save America” podcast on Thursday, Psaki was quick to shift the blame for Doocy’s actions to his employer when she was asked if the journalist really was “a stupid son of a bitch.”
“He works for a network that provides people with questions that ― nothing personal to any individual, including Peter Doocy ― but might make anyone sound like a stupid son of a bitch,” she said, drawing laughter from the audience.
“In his role as White House correspondent, Peter Doocy’s job is to elicit truth from power for the American public,” a Fox News spokesperson said following Psaki’s remark. “His questions are his own, he is a terrific reporter and we are extremely proud of his work.”
Psaki’s comments were first reported by Politico White House correspondent Eugene Daniels, who attended the taping. They could also be found in a short video that circulated on social media Friday.
Both the initial question and Psaki’s response were a not-too-subtle allusion to a late January incident in which President Joe Biden was caught on a hot microphone referring to Doocy as a “stupid son of a bitch” under his breath.
The president’s seething comment came after Doocy had asked him if he thought inflation would be a “political liability ahead of the midterms.”
Biden later called Doocy to apologize for the remark. In her “Pod Save America” chat Thursday, Psaki said the journalist had been gracious following the president’s mea culpa.
Psaki, a former CNN political commentator, is stepping down from her role next month to join MSNBC. The Connecticut native will host a show on the network’s streaming platform, Peacock, and lend her perspective on live news programming.
She and Doocy traded barbs on numerous occasions during her roughly year-long tenure. Last month, she memorably shot down the journalist’s implication that the Biden administration was to blame for the mounting gasoline prices across the U.S.
“Peter, let me give you the facts here,” she said at the time. “I know that can be inconvenient, but I think they’re important in this moment.”
We will miss Jen!
Tony
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