Like the quisling that he is, CNN’s Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter defended White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday afternoon after she said Fox News’s Peter Doocy “sound[s] like a stupid son of a bitch” by working at Fox News, arguing “she didn’t really criticize him” and was “relaxing” in her final moments before leaving for MSNBC.
The liberal media janitor appeared on CNN Newsroom and was proceeded by co-host Victor Blackwell characterizing Psaki’s remarks as “choice words for her frequent press room rival, Peter Doocy during a taping of Pod Save America podcast.”
After co-host Alisyn Camerota asked whether Psaki should know the tough questions and Doocy being “a thorn in the side...come[s] with the territory,” Stelter conceded the last part, but quickly went into spin mode sucking up to Psaki.
“I think the point she's trying to say there is that Fox pushes storylines that are sometimes nonsense. Doocy does that in the briefing room,” Stelter boasted, fretting that her comments “to a liberal audience” will “cause a lot of outrage from Fox” lasting a “few days.”
Stelter then read a Fox News statement defending Doocy as “a terrific reporter” and one “we are extremely proud of” who crafts “his own questions.” From there, Stelter went back to bashing Doocy by suggesting we cut Psaki some slack because she has a case of what we could otherwise call senioritis:
Psaki’s like, remember in senior year, spring of your senior year, you're about to graduate and you're just tired of all this? I think we're seeing that from Jen Psaki. She's about to leave the White house. She's going to go to a job likely at MSNBC, so she’s kind of relaxing and maybe sharing how she really feels.
Stelter added another shameless defense by claiming Psaki “didn’t really criticize him directly” but instead “Fox News as an organization.”
As a reminder, here’s the relevant portion of Psaki’s interview (click “expand”):
DAN PFEIFFER: Is he a stupid son of a bitch — [AUDIENCE CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] — or does he just play a stupid son of a bitch on TV?
PSAKI: Okay. Umm. Well — [AUDIENCE CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] — he works for a network —
PFEIFFER: Okay.
PSAKI: — 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, so —
[CO-HOSTS LAUGH] [AUDIENCE LAUGHS]
JON FAVREAU: Well handled!
CO-HOSTS: Whoa!
PFEIFFER: Wahhhhh.
Feeding off of a tease in which she wondered “what about President Biden's promise of no disrespect in his administration,” Camerota pushed back in noting the question that led President Biden to originally call Doocy the expletive on January 24 was basic and about whether inflation would affect the Democratic Party’s midterm election prospects.
Stelter again granted Camerota something in that Doocy’s question wasn’t “a gotcha question,” but, just in like his first answer, he went back to bashing Doocy.
This time, the CNN+ host said Doocy “advance[s] right-wing talking points in the briefing room but that's his right” and “[t]he tension there is to be expected,” both with Psaki and with whomever replaces her.
After having suggested earlier that she was merely responding to an insult first leveled by Biden, Blackwell ended the segment by acknowledging what Camerota said in the tease:
[W]e should remember, and the President should remember that promise he made at the start of the administration that anybody who disrespects someone, you're out the door. These words were actually his.
Stelter’s shameless spin and virulent hatred for Fox was made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as CarShield, Charles Schwab, MRHFM (Mesothelioma Law Firm), and T-Mobile. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CNN transcript from April 15, click “expand.”
CNN Newsroom With Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell
April 15, 2022
3:45 p.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Developing Story; Psaki Takes Shot at Fox Reporter Peter Doocy]
ALISYN CAMEROTA: So, back here White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki taking a shot at Fox’s Peter Doocy. What about President Biden's promise of no disrespect in his administration? All of that’s next.
(....)
3:50 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Press Room Rivalry; Psaki Says Fox News Questions Make Anyone Sound Like a “Stupid Son of a B****”]
VICTOR BLACKWELL: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had some, let's call them, choice words for her frequent press room rival, Peter Doocy during a taping of Pod Save America podcast. One of the hosts asked Psaki about the time the president was caught on a hot mic insulting the Fox News reporter.
DAN PFEIFFER [on 04/14/22]: Is he a stupid son of a bitch — [AUDIENCE CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] — or does he just play a stupid son of a bitch on TV?
JEN PSAKI [on 04/14/22]: Okay. Umm. Well — [AUDIENCE CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] — he works for a network —
PFEIFFER [on 04/14/22]: Okay.
PSAKI [on 04/14/22]: — 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
CAMEROTA: Let's bring in CNN's chief media correspondent Brian Stelter. Brian, obviously Peter Doocy has been, at times, a thorn in the side of Jen, but doesn't that come with the territory?
BRIAN STELTER: It does come with the territory and I think the point she's trying to say there is that Fox pushes storylines that are sometimes nonsense. Doocy does that in the briefing room. But still, she did it in a way playing to a liberal audience that certainly is going to cause a lot of outrage from Fox probably the next few days, right? Here's what the network says in a statement. Fox telling me, “In his role as White House correspondent Peter Doocy's job is to elicit truth from power for the American public. His questions,” they say, “are his own. He’s a terrific reporter and we are extremely proud of his work.” So, Fox is saying, “hey, we don’t provide him questions. He comes up with them himself.” So, they’re defending his honor. I think Jen Psaki’s like, remember in senior year, spring of your senior year, you're about to graduate and you're just tired of all this? I think we're seeing that from Jen Psaki. She's about to leave the White house. She's going to go to a job likely at MSNBC, so she’s kind of relaxing and maybe sharing how she really feels. But, to be fair, she didn’t really criticize him directly. She was really criticizing Fox News as an organization.
BLACKWELL: Yeah and let's remember that the question was born out of what President Biden said about Steve Doocy [sic].
CAMEROTA: Yes, but at that time, it’s Peter Doocy.
BLACKWELL: Yeah.
CAMEROTA: At that time —
BLACKWELL: Peter Doocy.
CAMEROTA: — but — but Peter Doocy said something to the President like, do you think that the inflation is going to hurt your chances at the midterms? That's actually a fair question. It rankled the president, but that's not a below the — that’s not a gotcha question, Brian.
STELTER: No. That's not a gotcha question. There have been other times, though, where I think Doocy does advance right wing talking points in the briefing room but that's his right. And I think that's the point. The tension there is to be expected. And it’ll exist whoever replaces Psaki as well. It’s just the same that she’s going to go off to another channel and we won't have Psaki versus Doocy anymore.
BLACKWELL: Yeah. Well, we should remember, and the President should remember that promise he made at the start of the administration that anybody who disrespects someone, you're out the door. These words were actually his. Brian Stelter, thank you.
CAMEROTA: Thanks, Brian.
STELTER: Thanks.
