United States President, Joe Biden, has been caught on a hot mic referring to a Fox News journalist Peter Doocy, as “stupid son of a bitch” after the latter posed a question about the rising rate of inflation in the country.
This was contained in a post shared on Twitter by Alex Thompson, a White House reporter.
In the video, journalists were seen leaving the room at the end of a media briefing on Monday when the reporter had asked the President, “Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?”
Biden responded: “No, it’s a great asset – more inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.”
Joe BidenReuters
The remark came at the end of a White House Competition Council meeting where officials provided an update on efforts to combat inflation, which recently hit 7%, Guardian reports.
Biden, who was also fielding questions about the growing crisis in Ukraine, had said he only wanted to address questions on the topic of the council, which Doocy appeared to be covering in his inquiry.
The White House has said this month that inflation will only be a temporary problem, but some Democrats have worried about the potential for longer-term political consequences.
Biden calls Peter Doocy a “stupid son of a bitch”
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) January 24, 2022
Appeared to forget the hot mic
pic.twitter.com/FtelbODMO0
The clip of Biden’s remark quickly went viral on social media, with some pointing out that Biden days earlier had muttered, “What a stupid question,” in response to another Fox News reporter’s question about Russia.
However, Doocy went live on Fox News soon after and joked about the insult, saying: “Nobody has fact-checked him yet.”
Unlike his predecessor, Biden has described journalists as “indispensable” to democracy, although press access to him has been limited.
The president held fewer than 10 formal news conferences during his first year, far less than Trump or Obama. His press conference last week, however, was longer than any given by either predecessor.
Last year, Biden apologized to a CNN reporter after snapping at one of her questions. He walked over to a group of reporters assembled on the tarmac and said he owed Collins “an apology.”
“I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy with the last answer I gave,” Biden said.
Biden, however, also complained to the group of reporters that journalists “never ask” him positive questions.
“To be a good reporter, you got to be negative, that you got to have a negative view of life, it seems to me,” Biden said.
Biden grew angry at Collins earlier when she asked him why he was confident Putin would change his behaviour following their meeting.
“I’m not confident he’ll change his behaviour,” Biden quipped. “Where the hell –— what do you do all the time. When did I say I was confident?”
“What I said was — let’s get it straight — I said, ‘What will change their behaviour is if the rest of the world reacts to them and it diminishes their standing in the world,'” Biden added. “I’m not confident of anything. I’m just stating a fact.”
Collins pointed out that Putin denied involvement in cyberattacks, downplayed human rights abuses, and refused to say opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s name during his press conference Wednesday.
Collins then asked Biden, “how does that amount to a constructive meeting?”
Biden responded, “If you don’t understand that, you’re in the wrong business.” He then left the stage without addressing the substance of her question.
After Biden apologised, Collins said on-air that it was “completely unnecessary” as she was just doing her job.
“He did not have to apologise, though I appreciate he did,” Collins said.
