President Joe Biden on Tuesday told Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy that he spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin about him, apparently in jest.
“Mr. President, what did you talk to Vladimir Putin about?” Doocy asked Biden.
“You,” the president responded. “He sends his best.”
The other reporters on site erupted in laughter over the apparent joke.
It goes without saying that the joke would not have gone over the same way if it were quipped by Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump. In fact, there likely would have been a total press meltdown.
Democrats have ostensibly held hardline positions against Russia since 2016, claiming Trump essentially stole the 2016 election with Putin’s help. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2017 tweeted in relation to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate allegations of Trump-linked Russian collusion, “Our election was hijacked. There is no question. Congress has a duty to #ProtectOurDemocracy & #FollowTheFacts.”
In fact, it was was just earlier this month that Pelosi and twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton suggested there should be a commission to investigate the unsupported allegation that Trump worked with Putin to orchestrate the breach on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. “With you, Mr. President, all roads lead to Putin,” Pelosi boasted of once telling Trump, who was tough on Russia as POTUS.
Biden’s joke also comes on the heels of Russian police dramatically cracking down this weekend on protesters demanding the Kremlin release Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny. The activist has recovered from a severe nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin and faces criminal charges which he called made-up, The Daily Wire noted. Navalny has also reportedly been exposed to the Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent.
Doocy is one of the few reporters who has challenged Biden. On the campaign trail, the Fox News corresponded provoked a volatile reaction from the then-presidential candidate for asking about his embattled son Hunter Biden’s love child.
Yesterday, Doocy pressed White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about Biden’s travel bans, questioning why his restrictions are not “xenophobic.”
“When President Trump was imposing travel restrictions in March, specifically on China, then-candidate Biden called it ‘xenophobic’ and ‘fearmongering,’” Doocey told Psaki. “So now-President Biden is putting travel restrictions on people coming in from other countries. What word do we use to describe that?”
The press secretary claimed Biden thought Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban” was xenophobic but has for some time been on board with travel bans to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. As highlighted by The Daily Wire’s Ashe Schow, it is in fact Psaki’s framing of Biden’s position that seems to be unfair.
Alternatively, other reporters allegedly pressing the Biden administration have instead asked Psaki if Biden ever feels “at all wistful about sort of missing the fun parts about being a [presidential] candidate” in the era of Covid.
WATCH:
Fox News' Peter Doocy: "Mr. President, what did you talk to Vladimir Putin about?"
Pres. Biden: "You! He sends his best." pic.twitter.com/I59ZNzuxsz
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 26, 2021