During the January 10th White House Press Briefing, Fox News Channel White House Correspondent Peter Doocy pressed White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre over the relationship between Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden. His important line of questioning about what, if anything, Joe helped Hunter do led to a lengthy back-and-forth spat that ended in KJP trying to move on as other reporters laughed.
That spat began with Doocy asking about Hunter Biden’s appearance on Capitol Hill. As background, Hunter Biden had appeared before the House Oversight Committee, then left within minutes as Reps. Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene directed angry remarks his way. Rep. MTG later claimed that Hunter was “terrified” of what she might ask him.
In any case, that incident from earlier in the morning was on everyone’s mind when Doocy asked the press secretary, “And Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill today. How big of a headache is that for you?” Sensing the humor in the question because of Hunter Biden’s antics, others in the room laughed.
But KJP didn’t laugh nor did she play along. Instead she tried shutting down the line of questioning instead of giving anything approaching a response, or otherwise indicating how the White House is internally handling the Hunter situation. She said, “Hunter Biden is a private citizen. He is not a member of the White House, as you know.”
That response is what sparked the back-and-forth spat. Doocy tried to introduce a new question, saying, “But the —” KJP then cut him off, saying, “And I just don’t have anything else to share.” But Doocy was ready and pressed her again, saying, “But the last time he was on the Hill, you said the President was ‘certainly familiar with what his son was going to say.’”
KJP, beginning her response, said, “I did say that. And here’s —” So then Doocy cut her off, starting to ask, “So, is the official line —” She kept going, saying, “— and what I’m saying today —” Doocy kept going as well, saying, “— that President Biden —” KJP, not done either, said, “What I’m saying to- —” And that’s when Doocy landed the hammer blow of the back and forth, ending his question by saying: “— does not help him with his business deals, but he does help him skirt congressional subpoenas?”
So, Doocy was asking if Biden helped Hunter skirt subpoenas from Congress. That piqued KJP and, responding, she angrily retorted, “That is not even true. That — that is a jump that is — that is incredibly disingenuous in that question. What I will say to you —”
Doocy, interrupting, said, “Then help us out. Just tell us —” KJP, responding, told him, “I am helping you out.” Ignoring her interruption and finishing his question, Doocy asked, “— what the President knew.” KJP refused to give an answer, saying, “I’m helping you out. I don’t have anything else to share.” At that point, the others in the room laughed again. Watch them here (laughter at the very end of the video):
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
