Fox’s Steve Doocy had two White House officials dodging his questions this week when asked about President Joe Biden’s trip to the border and whether their support lies with the Chinese government or its people.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded on Wednesday to the claim that President Joe Biden has never been to the border by simply stating that he had. When Doocy, caught by surprise, asked when that visit was, Jean-Pierre laughed and reassured him that the president had taken action on the border since day one.
The question came on the heels of harsh criticism from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) after he invited the president to the border to witness it for himself. Doocy asked how the president would RSVP to McCarthy’s invite.
Bill Melugin, a Fox News reporter who’s spent a good amount of time at the border, called out Jean-Pierre on the lie.
“President Biden has never visited the border in his entire political career,” Melugin said in a tweet. Jean-Pierre never gave an exact date for when the president’s alleged visit.
White House NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby spoke with Doocy and a couple of other Fox hosts about the unrest in China over President Xi Jinping’s harsh COVID restrictions.
Doocy asked if the White House agreed that China’s president should go and whether the strict lockdowns should be lifted. Kirby’s response included highlighting support for peaceful protests but that it wasn’t “taking a side in terms of what these protests are about,” Kirby said.
This response came when Doocy asked which side the White House was on. Kirby’s statement seemed contradictory since the protestors are challenging the Chinese government’s harsh policies concerning COVID, which Kirby acknowledged. “We don’t believe, here in the United States, that lockdowns are the answer,” Kirby said.
