During a White House briefing, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy challenged Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about President Joe Biden’s recent comments joking about election denial.
Doocy referred to Biden’s rally in Virginia where he joked about Terry McAuliffe being “the real governor.”
Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre on whether election denial was now a joking matter.
Doocy: “Is election denying a joke now?”
KJP: “What do you mean? You have to say more than just to make a random statement.”
[REPORTERS LAUGH]
Doocy: “Why did the President say, ‘hello Virginia and the real governor, Terry McAuliffe’”?
KJP: “He was making a joke about Terry… pic.twitter.com/OsyhMARaj4
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 24, 2024
Doocy asked, “Is election denying a joke now?”
Jean-Pierre replied, “What do you mean? 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 said.
“He was making a joke about Terry Mc — he was making a joke,” explained Jean-Pierre.
“What’s the joke?” asked Doocy.
“He was — I mean, if you play it back, it’s clearly that the president was making a joke,” Jean-Pierre repeated.
“What’s the joke?” repeated Doocy
“He was making a joke about McAuliffe’s previous term as governor,” explained Jean-Pierre.
“How are guys going to convince people, though, that this idea of denying election results is very bad if President Biden is going out and making jokes like this?” asked Doocy.
“He did not deny. He did not deny it. He congratulated Governor Youngkin,” explained Jean-Pierre.
“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,” emphasized the Press Secretary.
Jean-Pierre defended Biden, claiming he was making a joke about McAuliffe’s previous term as governor and emphasizing that Biden congratulated Governor Youngkin after the 2021 special election.
The exchange revolved around discussing the seriousness of election denial in light of Biden’s comments.
