Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy isn’t letting Karine Jean-Pierre off the hook. On Thursday, he questioned how the former White House press secretary could justify years of false statements about President Joe Biden. Her new book, Independent, claims she left the Democratic Party over its “betrayal” of Biden.
Doocy, appearing on Fox & Friends, said her attempt at a political rebrand doesn’t erase her record. “She would say legitimate questions were misinformation,” he recalled. “I told her once, ‘you can’t just call something that you don’t like misinformation.’”
He pointed out that Jean-Pierre served as the public face of an administration downplaying Biden’s mental decline. “I don’t know how she’s going to square being the face of saying things that were not true,” Doocy said. “How does she just come out and say, ‘actually, here’s what was really going on’?”
Doocy had repeatedly grilled Jean-Pierre in briefings over Biden’s cognitive health. In September 2023, he questioned why Biden repeated a story word-for-word within minutes. Jean-Pierre brushed it off, saying Biden was just being “very clear.”
Then in February 2024, Biden confused France’s sitting president with one who died in 1996. Doocy raised the issue again, but Jean-Pierre refused to “go down that rabbit hole.” She remained firm in defending Biden’s fitness.
After Biden’s disastrous June debate, Doocy pressed again. He asked why Biden said his “brain is deteriorating.” Jean-Pierre claimed it was just a joke.
By July, Doocy directly asked whether Biden had been tested for Parkinson’s, dementia, or other cognitive disorders. “If he gets a bad result, it’s all over that day,” Doocy said. Jean-Pierre responded by deflecting: “With all due respect, you’re not a doctor. I’m not a doctor.”
Doocy also pointed out how staff constantly shielded Biden from tough questions. In a 2023 exchange, he asked why aides always walked Biden offstage and gave him notecards. Jean-Pierre dismissed the concern as “ridiculous.”
Throughout her tenure, Jean-Pierre insisted Biden was “sharp” and “healthy.” She blamed videos of Biden appearing confused on “cheap fakes.” Even after his failing debate performance, she insisted there was “no coverup.”
Now that she’s distancing herself from the Democratic Party, Doocy isn’t convinced. “There is a long record of misleading statements,” he said. And he doubts her book will change that.