Fox’s Doocy Battles KJP on Abortion, Border, Gets Backup from Daily Caller, EWTN

Curtis Houck
January 23rd, 2024 11:48 AM

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Monday’s Doocy Time was off to a raring start as, after some banter with the ever-inept Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wondering where Doocy had been (since his last appearance on January 11), Doocy cut to the case on Biden’s mental fitness, the border crisis, and a simple question Democrats refuse to answer: When, if at all, does President Biden believe abortions should be limited?

Thankfully, he had help on the border from the Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese and on abortion from EWTN producer Toby Capion, who had an equally important question: Does President Biden believe unborn children have rights?

But Doocy first led with the age question: “Karine, why do you think it is that more and more people polled feel like, over time, President Biden is getting less and less mentally sharp?”

Asked to cite which poll, Doocy relayed that “ABC has President Biden’s rating for health since May down five points and for mental sharpness down four points.”

Jean-Pierre’s answer ignored it and went on a bizarre aside asserting without evidence that Donald Trump is his favorite President (click “expand”):

JEAN-PIERRE: You know, I have to say that’s a little confusing for me, because if you look at what this President has done the last three years, historical pieces of legislation — right — When it comes to bipartisan infrastructure deal, Many presidents before, like your favorite President had said that — you tease —

DOOCY: Who’s my favorite president?

JEAN-PIERRE: Why don’t you — why don’t we let the American people guess, but —

DOOCY: No, no, no, no.

JEAN-PIERRE: — no, no, no. Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. You asked me a question. I’m gonna — 

DOOCY: I don’t understand what you’re getting at.

JEAN-PIERRE: — let me let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish.  And you’ll — you’ll guess who I’m talking about who used to say infrastructure week! Infrastructure week — which was a punchline — became a joke. And now we are seeing infrastructure decade because of this President. There’s the Chips and Science Act, right? There is the Inflation Reduction Act. These are legislation [sic] that is going to have a difference for generations to come, right? And so this is something that this president has done.  That’s pretty sharp for this president to have been able to do that. Let’s look at the economy. The economy — now — unemployment is under four percent, 14 million jobs created. The economy is in a better place than when it was when he walked in. That’s just a fact. That’s just the data and we’re seeing consumer sentiment is going up and we saw just in December how — how people spent more and we hadn’t seen that in some time. Som I think you needed a President like President Biden to get that type of stuff done. Someone who’s had Senate experience someone who was the VP — Vice President und — under President Obama, obviously and someone who has been a pretty effective President over the last three years.

DOOCY: Okay.

Doocy pivoted to immigration and a disturbing revelation in the dark-blue, rich, white D.C. suburb Fairfax County, Virginia that law enforcement there “ignored an ICE detainer” and thus “released an illegal immigrants from Honduras who’s charged with sexually assaulting a Virginia minor and production of sexual abuse material.”

“Doesn’t that go to show that, as record numbers of people appear at the border, you guys have no idea what kind of people are coming into this country,” he asked.

Jean-Pierre insisted this was an example of why Biden’s “having negotiations with the Senate, Senators, Republicans and Democrats...to deal with...border security” (even though the White House is only there in a supporting role) and why he “on day one, put forward a comprehensive immigration plan...Congress didn’t do anything about” (which was little more than a liberal wishlist).

Skipping ahead, Reese followed up on the border with another simple question that Jean-Pierre flubbed: “Biden admitted Friday that the border isn’t secure. Does he have any plans to visit the southern border before the election?”

Jean-Pierre responded that he went “recently,” but Reese pointed out it was “in January” as in a full year ago. Of course, Jean-Pierre shrugged off that difference and insisted a year ago was still “recently.”

Reese pressed again: “In December 2023, [t]here were 300,000 migrant encounters, which is the highest month ever on records, so how bad does the border crisis for Biden to take a trip back?”

Jean-Pierre chose to ignore this and instead doubled down on his funding request (a classic throw-money-at-the-problem solution) and Senate negotiations.

Back to Doocy, his third and final question touched on abortion: “[H]ow many weeks into a pregnancy does he think abortion should still be illegal?”

Acknowledging this question has come up before (September 23, 2022 to be exact), she struck a similar milquetoast tone that, in turn, indicated President Biden supports abortion, at a minimum, up until birth and falsely claimed Americans support him (click “expand”):

So, you’ve asked me this question before. I’ve been very clear. The President’s been very clear. We want to see the protections in Roe. We want to see Roe become the law of the land. That’s what the President wants to see. That’s what the President believes in and let me be very clear here. It’s not some sort of shift that the President is making. Majority of Americans want to see their protections protected by their by — by this — by — by the — by the folks who are here in Washington, D. C in Congress by this President and the Vice President. That’s the President’s standing with majority of Americans. We saw that in the 2023 midterm elections, and we saw that in 2022, not midterm election, but the 2023 elections and 2022 midterm elections.  They’ve been very clear. We need to stand for freedoms, for make sure women have the right to make their own decision — personal decisions on their body, on their health care. That’s where a majority of Americans are. Guess what? Republican officials? They’re not. They’re — they’re not majority of Americans, so the President’s gonna continue to stand with the majority of Americans on this.

Capion had the last back-and-forth of the afternoon, starting with a rupping of Doocy’s question about limits on abortion. She doubled down on her meally-mouthed take, adding she wouldn’t “get into it” any further since “Roe...was a constitutional law.”

Um, what?

Capion struck more pay dirt: “He also said he wants to be a President for all Americans, but how in this situation, with this issue, does he best represents the pro-life Americans who want to see more unborn babies saved?”

After she reemphasized her claim Biden and the “majority of Americans” desire “women” being able to “make those deeply, deeply personal decisions”, Capion wrapped with a question more reporters would be asking if the profession wasn’t so addicted to baby-killing: “Do those unborn babies have any rights, then?”

Disgustingly, Jean-Pierre scoffed at the notion the unborn are more than nuisances:

I’m not going to get into that question. I’ve been very, very clear about this where majority of Americans stand and that’s what matters, but the President wants to see Roe become the law of the land, and that’s what he’s going to continue to asked Congress to do.

To see the relevant transcript from the January 22 briefing, click “expand.”

White House press briefing [via ABC News Live subfeed]
January 22, 2024
1:57 p.m. Eastern

PETER DOOCY: Karine, why do you think it is that more and more people polled feel like, over time, President Biden is getting less and less mentally sharp?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Which poll is this?

DOOCY: ABC has President Biden’s rating for health since May down five points and for mental sharpness down four points.

JEAN-PIERRE: You know, I have to say that’s a little confusing for me, because if you look at what this President has done the last three years, historical pieces of legislation — right — When it comes to bipartisan infrastructure deal, Many presidents before, like your favorite President had said that — you tease —

DOOCY: Who’s my favorite president?

JEAN-PIERRE: Why don’t you — why don’t we let the American people guess, but —

DOOCY: No, no, no, no.

JEAN-PIERRE: — no, no, no. Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. You asked me a question. I’m gonna — 

DOOCY: I don’t understand what you’re getting at.

JEAN-PIERRE: — Let me let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish.  And you’ll — you’ll guess who I’m talking about who used to say infrastructure week! Infrastructure week — which was a punchline — became a joke. And now we are seeing infrastructure decade because of this President. There’s the Chips and Science Act, right? There is the Inflation Reduction Act. These are legislation [sic] that is going to have a difference for generations to come, right? And so this is something that this president has done.  That’s pretty sharp for this president to have been able to do that. Let’s look at the economy. The economy — now — unemployment is under four percent, 14 million jobs created. The economy is in a better place than when it was when he walked in. That’s just a fact. That’s just the data and we’re seeing consumer sentiment is going up and we saw just in December how — how people spent more and we hadn’t seen that in some time. Som I think you needed a President like President Biden to get that type of stuff done. Someone who’s had Senate experience someone who was the VP — Vice President und — under President Obama, obviously and someone who has been a pretty effective President over the last three years.

DOOCY: Okay. Following up on immigration, authorities in Fairfax County, Virginia ignored an ICE detainer. They released an illegal immigrants from Honduras who’s charged with sexually assaulting a Virginia minor and production of sexual abuse material. Doesn’t that go to show that, as record numbers of people appear at the border, you guys have no idea what kind of people are coming into this country?

JEAN-PIERRE: Let me just say — first of all, this is why the President is having negotiations with the Senate, Senators, Republicans and Democrats — right — for the past couple of weeks to deal with what’s going on at the border security — right — as it — as it relates to border security. This is why the President, on day one, put forward a comprehensive immigration plan that — about — more than three years now, Congress didn’t do anything about, but he’s appreciative that we’re having this conversation in the Senate. We’ve de — we’ve deployed additional troops and federal agents to the border who have, by the way, returned more than 482,000 individuals since May. That’s the — that’s what we’ve been able to do. We’ve led the largest expansion of lawful pathways and that — we haven’t seen in some time. The President continues to have diplomatic conversation with Mexico, who have actually taken — taken actions to deal with — the situation. There’s more work to do.  There’s more work to do. We understand that. We have said that. You’ve heard that from the president on Friday. We understand that there is more work to do. We need more resources. We need more funding, which is why we’re having these negotiations on the Hill. But Republicans in the Senate is working with us. Republicans in the House are trying to get in the way, so it’s up to them. Are they going to help? Are they going to actually deal with an issue or continue to move forward in a political stunt?

DOOCY: And, as President Biden tries to make the national conversation more about reproductive rights, abortion, how many weeks into a pregnancy does he think abortion should still be illegal?

JEAN-PIERRE: So, you’ve asked me this question before. I’ve been very clear. The President’s been very clear. We want to see the protections in Roe. We want to see Roe become the law of the land. That’s what the President wants to see. That’s what the President believes in and let me be very clear here. It’s not some sort of shift that the President is making. Majority of Americans want to see their protections protected by their by — by this — by — by the — by the folks who are here in Washington, D. C in Congress by this President and the Vice President. That’s the President’s standing with majority of Americans. We saw that in the 2023 midterm elections, and we saw that in 2022, not midterm election, but the 2023 elections and 2022 midterm elections.  They’ve been very clear. We need to stand for freedoms, for make sure women have the right to make their own decision — personal decisions on their body, on their health care. That’s where a majority of Americans are. Guess what? Republican officials? They’re not. They’re — they’re not majority of Americans, so the President’s gonna continue to stand with the majority of Americans on this.

(....)

2:03 p.m. Eastern

REAGAN REESE: Biden admitted Friday that the border isn’t secure. Does he have any plans to visit the southern border before the election?”

JEAN-PIERRE: The President was in — visited the border recently.

REESE: In January.

JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, well, that was — that was a year ago. He’s been there.

REESE: In December 2023, There were 300,000 migrant encounters, which is the highest month ever on records, so how bad does the border crisis for Biden to take a trip back?

JEAN-PIERRE: So just to reiterate what I just said seconds ago, the President has been to the border. He’s visited the border. He saw for himself. He spoke to law enforcement. He saw exactly what goes on at the border. The President understands what’s going on at the border, which is why he included in his national security supplemental — right — which is again a request that is, when — when you feel like there’s an emergency, you make that supplemental request, which is what the President did, it included border security. It included, obviously, Ukraine and Israel. And it is incredibly important, which is why he continues to push for it, and you’re seeing those conversations happening in the Senate a bipartisan way — a bipartisan agreement and the President’s very thankful to that.  And so, I’m going to leave that there. He’s taking this very seriously. Remember day one — day one, he put forward an immigration, comprehensive immigration legislation.

(....)

2:07 p.m. Eastern

TOBY CAPION: Karine, you said to Peter that the President wants to see Roe restored. It’s still not clear to me, though, if he supports the late term abortion restrictions that were included in Roe?

JEAN-PIERRE: I — well, if it’s in Roe, then that’s what he wants to see. I’m just not going to get into it. It’s whatever is in Roe — what Roe when it was a constitutional law — that’s what the President wants to see restored. He’s been very clear about that.

CAPION: He also said he wants to be a President for all Americans, but how in this situation, with this issue, does he best represents the pro-life Americans who want to see more unborn babies saved?

JEAN-PIERRE: What I will say is majority of Americans — majority of Americans wants to see their rights protected, wants to see women have their rights protected, wants to be able to — wants — want women to be able to make those deeply, deeply personal decisions on their bodies, on their own, not politicians. That’s what majority of Americans want to see. And so, the President is going to stand with majority of Americans on this issue.

CAPION: Do those unborn babies have any rights, then?

JEAN-PIERRE: I’m not going to get into that specific — I’m not going to get into that question. I’ve been very, very clear about this where majority of Americans stand and that’s what matters, but the President wants to see Roe become the law of the land, and that’s what he’s going to continue to asked Congress to do.

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