Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy grilled Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during Tuesday’s briefing, asking her whether President Joe Biden took any responsibility for implementing policies that could have made record-setting inflation levels worse.
Doocy began with the fact that gas prices had hit yet another record high. “In some places in this country now, a gallon of gas costs more than the people on the federal minimum wage are making in an hour. What does the White House want these people to do? Just stop driving to work?” he asked.
Doocy: "In some places in this country now, a gallon of gas costs more than the people on the federal minimum wage are making in an hour. What does the WH want these people supposed to do? Just stop driving to work?"
Karine Jean-Pierre says Biden "understands what it feels like" pic.twitter.com/Pu4BbC8U35
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 31, 2022
Jean-Pierre responded by saying that President Biden understood what the American people were feeling. “He understands what it means for people who are sitting at their kitchen table and see gas prices go up,” she said.
She then pivoted to blame the rising prices on Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that the pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine were the main drivers impacting inflation.
Doocy pushed back, asking whether the Biden administration believed that any of their policies were impacting inflation.
“You just mentioned Putin a few times as a reason for recent inflation. Do you guys think that any part of inflation this year is because of President Biden’s spending plans? Or is it all Putin’s fault?” Doocy asked.
Doocy: "You just mentioned Putin a few times as a reason for recent inflation. Do you guys think that any part of inflation…is b/c of…Biden's spending plans? Or is it all Putin's fault?"
Jean-Pierre says the economy's "at a historic place" with job creation & unemployment pic.twitter.com/e1D4dSIbss
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 31, 2022
Jean-Pierre responded by touting low unemployment numbers and claiming that Biden’s policies were the reason that he had been able to “create” more jobs than any other president in his first year — and then circled back to blaming Putin.
Doocy made one more attempt to get a straight answer with regard to Biden’s policies and their impact on inflation. “So I guess the next question would be, does President Biden take any responsibility for his policies potentially contributing to inflation?”
Doocy: "Does President Biden take any responsibility for his policies potentially contributing to inflation?"
Karine Jean-Pierre: "His policies has [sic] helped the economy gets back on its feet. That's what his policies has [sic] — his policies has [sic] done." pic.twitter.com/vYGpboygRc
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 31, 2022
“His policies has [sic] helped the economy gets back on its feet. That’s what his policies has [sic] — his policies has [sic] done,” Jean-Pierre insisted. “This — when we talk about the gas prices right now, this is indeed Putin’s gas hike. This is what we have seen in the most recent months of what we’re seeing at the gas pump. And so that is a fact, we have seen about 60% increase in the past several months.”
Jean-Pierre then claimed that the biggest frustration for President Biden was watching what the American people had to go through.