US President Joe Biden was caught on a live microphone insulting a journalist. (file)
Washington:
US President Joe Biden was caught on a live microphone on Monday calling a Fox News journalist “the stupid son of a bitch” during a White House photo session.
As journalists were leaving the room after the incident, a reporter for the conservatives’ favorite channel Fox News asked whether inflation was a political liability.
The Democratic leader, presumably unaware that his microphone was still on, began with a stalemate: “That’s a great asset. More inflation.”
And then muttered, “What a stupid son of a bitch,” before briefly looking down.
Democrats: Donald Trump’s attack on the press is an attack on the First Amendment.
Joe Biden to Peter Ducey: “Now what a *stupid son of *teach.”
Democrats: *silence* pic.twitter.com/csPv2yjNPb
— lauren boebert (@laurenboebert) 24 January 2022
A pool reporter in the room at the time admitted that he could not hear what Biden had actually said over the noise.
But he said he would “direct your attention to the video of the incident if you’re curious how the president really feels about asking Fox’s Peter Ducey about inflation.”
Ducey played down the insult in a later interview on Fox.
“Yeah, no one has fact-checked it yet and said it’s not true,” he said carelessly.
Ducey later said that Biden called her within the hour and said: “It’s nothing personal, mate.”
That’s when Biden rushed in front of the White House to explain or back his remarks.
But this time, the White House was not shy about owning it, a transcript of the event that included commentary—making sure it passed into the official historical record.
“Just adds a certain something,” tweeted New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers, along with a screen grab of the transcript.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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