Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy read White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s old tweets claiming former President Donald Trump stole the 2016 election to her face Tuesday.
Doocy asked the press secretary about false claims that the 2016 election was “stolen” as the White House repeatedly argues that “MAGA [Make America Great Again] Republicans” pose a threat to democracy over their claims about the 2020 election being fraudulent. The press secretary said the White House will focus on the present rather than 2016.
Doocy then read 2016 tweets where Jean-Pierre said Trump and Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp “stole an election.”
“If denying an election is extreme now, why wasn’t it then?” he asked.
“So let’s be very clear that that comparison that you made is just ridiculous,” she said.
“How is that ridiculous?” Doocy interjected.
“You’re asking me a question, let me answer it,” she pushed back. “I was talking specifically at that time of what was happening with voting rights and what was in danger of voting rights. That’s what I was speaking to at the time and here’s the thing, I have said, Governor Kemp won the election in Georgia. I’ve been clear about that. I have said President Trump won the election in 2016 and I’ve been clear about that.” (RELATED: Jean-Pierre Says Biden’s Attacks On ‘MAGA Republicans’ Are ‘Not Political’)
The press secretary said the claims of a stolen election in 2020 led to the violence that took place on January 6, 2021. She claimed the riot led to the death of Capitol police officers, even though all of the officers died either from suicide or natural causes after the riot.
“What we are talking about right now is let’s not forget what happened on January 6, 2021, where we saw an insurrection, a mob that was incited by the person who occupied this campus, this facility at that time,” she said. “And it was an attack on our democracy. Let’s not forget people died that day. Law enforcement were attacked that day. That was the danger that we were seeing at the time. That’s what the president has called out and that’s what he’s going to do continue to call out.”
“So yes, when you have MAGA Republicans, an extreme part of Republicans, who just deny or do not want to really say what exactly happened on that day or say it was a protest when it clearly was not a peaceful protest. That’s not what we saw on that day. Yes, the president’s going to call that out.”
Ashli Babbitt a self-described Trump supporter who entered the building during the riot, was also killed at the riot. A Capitol police officer, Lt. Michael Byrd, fatally shot her in the left shoulder and neck.
Jean-Pierre told Doocy that the majority of Americans agree that democracy and the people’s rights must be protected.