Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy got defensive Monday as National Security adviser Jake Sullivan pushed back against a report about President Joe Biden’s alleged anger.
Doocy asked about an NBC News report alleging Biden “began to shout and swear” when he learned that his handling of the Israel-Hamas war negatively impacted his poll numbers.
“And there’s a report when President Biden was told his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas was starting to affect his poll numbers, the quote is that ‘he began to shout and swear.’ So, when he does that, is he shouting and swearing about [Israel Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, or about Hamas, or about his poll numbers?” Doocy asked.
“This is the ‘when did you stop beating your spouse’ question because I don’t think he ever did that,” Sullivan said.
“Excuse me?” Doocy interjected.
“Well, you used that as the premise of your question, which is when he does that. I’ve never seen him do that, shout or swear in response to that, so from my perspective, that particular report is not correct,” Sullivan said. (RELATED: ‘Sound Like A Broken Record’: Peter Doocy Repeatedly Asks KJP Whether Biden Will Commit To Debating Trump)
The “When did you stop beating your wife?” phrase is a loaded question implying that the person in question is guilty of a fallacy. If a person gives a date to that question, they have incriminated themselves. If they say “never,” it implies that they are.
Doocy also asked why Biden waited 32 days to directly talk to Netanyahu.
“Well, first of all, we are in contact every single day, at every single level,” Sullivan said. “It’s a daily, twice daily, sometimes nine times daily update on what’s going on and he reserves his calls for the prime minister when he thinks it’s a key strategic moment that needs to come forward. That’s point one. Point two, the prime minister of course knows how to reach President Biden. If the prime minister felt he needed that president for some reason, he would’ve picked up the phone and called. Of course, in the last 32 days, the president has never declined a phone call from Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
“So this is pretty much the normal give and take of two leaders both operating their governments, both operating their foreign policies, both working with their teams and then in a key inflection point in the dialogue between the two sides coming together and talking. I wouldn’t make any more of it than that,” he continued.
The president has come under scrutiny by members of his own side for his unwavering support of Israel and its right to defend itself against Hamas. Young Democrats have threatened to withhold their vote for Biden and staffers in his own re-election campaign have criticized his stance, calling on the president to support a ceasefire.