Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked if President Joe Biden views election denial as a “joke” after he called former Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe the “real governor.”
Biden seemed to imply that McAuliffe truly won the 2021 gubernatorial election against Gov. Glenn Youngkin in Virginia as he gave a pro-abortion speech Tuesday. He later insisted he made a joke after his remark raised eyebrows among conservatives, including Youngkin himself.
“Is election denying a joke now?” Doocy asked at Wednesday’s briefing.
“What do you mean? You’ll have to say more than just make a random statement,” the press secretary answered.
“Why’d the president say, ‘Hello Virginia and the real governor Terry McAuliffe?'”
“He was making a joke about Terry McAuliffe,” Jean-Pierre insisted.
“What’s the joke?” Doocy asked.
“I mean, if you play it back, it’s clearly that the president was making a joke,” the press secretary said.
“What’s the joke?” Doocy repeated.
Jean-Pierre said Biden made a joke about McAuliffe’s previous term as governor from 2014 to 2018. (RELATED: ‘That’s A Ridiculous Question’: Doocy Asks Jean-Pierre If Voting Republican Is A ‘Threat To Democracy’)
“How are you guys gonna convince people, though, that this idea of denying election results is very bad when President Biden is going out and making jokes like this?” he asked.
“Okay, he did not deny, he did not deny it. He congratulated Governor Youngkin. [As] a matter of fact, when he won the election, he did it out of the gate. Out of the gate, really, truly, he congratulated the governor and not only that, we’ve had the chance to work with the governor over the past couple of years and you know, this is a president that works across the aisle. You’ve seen that many times and he was making a joke.”
Youngkin responded to the so-called joke by saying, “Mr. President, I’m right here.”
Mr. President, I’m right here. https://t.co/wSpbqmLX9w
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) January 23, 2024
The White House has repeatedly called out former President Donald Trump and his base for denying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Jean-Pierre has publicly accused Republicans of being “MAGA extremists” and a “threat to democracy” for denying the results.
Jean-Pierre denied the results of the 2016 presidential and Georgia gubernatorial elections by claiming Trump and Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp “stole an election.”