White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized Fox News’ Peter Doocy for suggesting that her continued reference to Donald Trump as a “threat” to democracy was inciting violence.
Doocy asked Jean-Pierre “how many more assassination attempts” it would take before she would choose “another word” to describe the former president, just days after a man with a gun was spotted on Trump’s golf course.
The question was asked during a press conference on Tuesday, in which she repeatedly called Trump a “threat” and called for a “cooling down of the temperature” of political rhetoric.
“It was only two days ago that someone attempted to assassinate Donald Trump again, and now you’re sitting here on the podium in the White House press room calling him a ‘threat,’” Doocy said.
However, Jean-Pierre reacted negatively to the ‘dangerous’ manner of interrogation.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has criticized Fox News’ Peter Doocy for suggesting she incited political violence by calling Donald Trump a “threat.”
“I actually completely disagree with the premise of your question,” she said. “The question that you’re asking is also incredibly dangerous in the way that you’re asking it, because the American people are watching and to say that, to say that [about] a government that has consistently condemned political violence.’
She went on to describe the various times Democrats have spoken out against political violence, including the January 6 attack on Paul Pelosi and the two assassination attempts on Trump.
The Republican candidate survived his second assassination attempt in just months on Sunday when Secret Service agents managed to thwart alleged sniper Ryan Routh, 58.
The incident followed the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which Trump suffered an ear injury after gunman Thomas Crooks opened fire.
But Jean-Pierre claimed her assessment of Trump is factual and valid in light of January 6 and Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of 2020 election fraud.
“What I said about the president, the former president, about January 6th, are facts that you all reported.
Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre “how many more assassination attempts” it would take before she would choose “another word” to describe the presidential candidate
“There are people, police officers, who died because of what happened at the Capitol. They were there because the former president ordered them to go there.
“I mean, if that’s not a threat to our democracy, it was one of the darkest days of our democracy, January 6.”
She admitted that it is acceptable to have a political debate, but that inflammatory language has no place in elections.
However, Doocy went one step further and asked Jean-Pierre if he was concerned that people were taking her language “literally.”
“We use examples. We don’t just say that,” Jean-Pierre replied.
‘January 6, Peter, January 6 — wait, January 6. How many times have I — January 6, 2021. That’s a fact, what was reported, what happened that day by a number of your colleagues.
“I mean, we have condemned political violence over and over again at the same time.”
Trump survived his second assassination attempt in just months on Sunday when Secret Service agents managed to thwart alleged sniper Ryan Routh, 58.
She then went on to deliver a spy story about how the president decided to run for re-election in 2020 to “save the soul of America,” before tersely saying, “I’m moving on.”
It’s not the first time the two have clashed. In April, Jean-Pierre came out to Doocy after he investigated Joe Biden’s claims that his uncle was eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during World War II.
A month later, the press secretary again teased Doocy about his comment that Kamala Harris changed her accent.
“Do I hear a slight nasal tone in your voice, Peter?” she asked after Doocy asked if Biden minded that people were happy to see him retire.