White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against Fox News personality Peter Doocy‘s attempt to conflate remarks she made in 2016 with those President Joe Biden made recently about “MAGA Republicans.”
“So if we’re all in agreement that it is incorrect to say the 2020 election was stolen, what about the 2016 election?” Doocy charged.
Jean-Pierre made clear she was not taking the bait.
“Look, I’m not gonna go back to where we were or what happened in 2016. We’re going to focus on the here and now, we’re going to focus on what’s happening today. ”
She noted the “inflection point that the President pointed out … about what the country needs to do at this time to bring the country together.”
READ MORE: Watch: White House Names and Shames ‘Extreme’ MAGA Republicans for Promotion of Violent Rhetoric
President Biden “believes that’s where [the] majority of Americans are when it comes to protecting our democracy, when it comes to protecting our rights, and when it comes to protecting our freedoms, that’s what we’re going to talk about. That’s what we’re going to focus on on where we are at today.”
“But just in terms of trying to understand the new attention on the MAGA Republicans, you tweeted –” Doocy began.
“Oh I knew this was coming,” Jean-Pierre interjected.
“‘Trump stole an election,'” he said of the Press Secretary’s remarks six years ago.
“I was waiting, Peter, when you were gonna ask me that question.”
“Well, you tweeted, ‘Trump stole an election, you tweeted [Georgia GOP governor] Brian Kemp stole an election. If denying election results is extreme now, why wasn’t it then?” he asked.
“So, let’s be really clear that that comparison that you made is just ridiculous,” she responded, as he interrupted. “I have been, I have been, well, you’re asking me, you’re asking me a question. Let me answer it.”
“I was, I was talking specifically at the time of what was happening with voting rights, and the 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 of 2016, and I’ve been clear about that.”
“What we are talking about right now is let’s not forget what happened on January 6, 2021,” she continued. “We saw an insurrection, a mob that was incited by the person who occupied this campus, this facility, at that time, 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 continue to call it out,” she explained.
President Joe Biden on September 1 told America, “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. Now, I want to be very clear,” he stressed, “very clear up front: Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.”
A fact Jean-Pierre stressed.
“So yes, when you have MAGA Republicans, a[n] extreme part of Republicans who, for 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 is going to call that out. And here’s the thing, the majority of Americans agree with him. the majority of Americans agree with this president on protecting our democracy, protecting our freedom, and protecting our rights. That’s what we’re talking about today. And that’s what the President’s going to focus on.”
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