Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy challenged Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre directly during Wednesday’s daily briefing, asking whether President Joe Biden’s recent comments amounted to joking about election denial.
Doocy referenced Biden’s recent rally in Manassas, Virginia — during which he referred to failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe as “the real governor” despite his 2021 loss to Republican Glenn Youngkin — and pressed Jean-Pierre for a response.
“Is election denying a joke now?” Doocy asked.
“What do you mean?” Jean-Pierre asked. “You have to say more than just to make a random statement.”
“Why did the President say, ‘Hello Virginia and the real governor, Terry McAuliffe’?” Doocy clarified.
“He was making a joke about Terry Mc — he was making a joke,” Jean-Pierre relied.
“What’s the joke?” Doocy asked.
“He was — I mean, if you play it back, it’s clearly that the president was making a joke,” Jean-Pierre said again.
“What’s the joke?” Doocy asked again, to which Jean-Pierre said, “He was making a joke about McAuliffe’s previous term as governor.”
WATCH:
Doocy: “How are guys going to convince people, though, that this idea of denying election results is very bad if President Biden is going out —”
KJP: “How is he —”
Doocy: “— and making jokes like this?”
KJP: “— okay. He did not deny. He did not deny it. He congratulated… pic.twitter.com/vfJPCxrkLc
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 24, 2024
“How are guys going to convince people, though, that this idea of denying election results is very bad if President Biden is going out —” Doocy continued to object. “— and making jokes like this?”
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“He did not deny. He did not deny it. He congratulated Governor Youngkin,” Jean-Pierre said of the 2021 special election. “Matter of fact, uh, when he won his election, he did it out of the gate — out of the gate. Really. Truly. He — he congratulated the governor and not only that — we have had opportunities to work closely with the governor and — over the past couple of years, and, you know, this is a President that works across the aisle. We’ve seen that many times, and he was making a joke.”