Watching Jen Psaki cross swords with Peter Doocy was one of the few sources of joy from the daily White House briefings of 2022 — and as often happens between old adversaries, the outgoing press secretary may already be getting wistful for her regular clashes with the inquisitive Fox News reporter.
In a backhanded sort of way, Psaki seemed to defend Doocy during the Pod Save America podcast recorded live Thursday night at a Washington, D.C. theater, gently shifting blame for “stupid” questions away from the White House reporter to — who else? His employer, Fox News.
Psaki was asked onstage whether “Peter Doocy is a stupid son of a bitch or does he just play one on TV?” (The question is a cheeky reference to Joe Biden’s hot-mic gaffe from earlier this year, in which the president called Doocy the slur under his breath after the reporter’s inflation inquiry.)
“He works for a network that provides people with questions that, nothing personal to any individual including Peter Doocy, but might make anyone sound like a stupid son of a bitch,” she replied, according to Politico White House reporter Eugene Daniels, who quoted the remark on his Twitter account:
Smash-cut to Psaki and Doocy sharing an ice cream on a Disneyland ride. (Not really, but isn’t that what the world needs right now?)
A Fox News spokesperson says of its star reporter, “In his role as White House correspondent, Peter Doocy’s job is to elicit truth from power for the American public. His questions are his own, he is a terrific reporter and we are extremely proud of his work.”
The exchange was first reported by Mediaite.