Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy discussed President Donald Trump’s relationship with the press and his constant availability.
During an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on “Hannity,” Doocy detailed how Trump is always working and allows the media to be present for so many events. Doocy noted how things were opposite during former President Joe Biden’s administration and how he asked then-Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre countless times about concerns surrounding Biden’s whereabouts and mental stamina.
“You know, it’s interesting because I watch these gaggles, I see you in the White — I see you Oval Office often. You don’t just get one question, you get multiple questions almost on a daily basis. Explain for this audience the difference between the Biden years and Donald Trump’s second term,” Hannity asked Doocy.
“The biggest difference is with Joe Biden in the Oval Office, you had to think all day about just one sensational question that was really short and at best you would get a yes or no answer. Usually just him laughing as aides said, ‘Get out of the room.’ Whereas with President Trump, including yesterday, uh I went through basically two full pages of questions and follow-ups. And that included my first question. How did you find out that you were dead? Even though we were relieved to see that he was in fact alive in the Oval Office, he told us that he was,” Doocy said.
“It seems like we are back to taking the president literally though because he did make a joke two weeks ago on FOX & Friends that he hopes to try to get into heaven. That doesn’t mean that he is going to go there right away. And, Sean, I did something that I pretty much never do on this show. I brought a sound bite to show that just last year when the previous president disappeared for the same amount of time, White House officials assured us that that is normal for a president,” Doocy added.
“The biggest difference between then and now. And the reason that there were not more questions then is because there was an understanding then that staff was running the White House and President Biden just had to be reached for decisions at the last minute,” Doocy continued.
“Whereas everybody understands now that it works backwards where pre — everything — the staff waits for President Trump. So, if you don’t see him for a few days, it is unusual but that doesn’t mean that there is something wrong. That is how White Houses used to work last year,” he declared.
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Hannity jumped in and asked, “Did they know privately — did they acknowledge to you privately that they fully understood Joe Biden was hiding, he was in cognitive decline, he was mumbling and bumbling and stumbling and hiding?”
Doocy responded, “I wouldn’t say that anybody during the Biden years ever said that they thought he — from another network said that they thought he was cognitively impaired, but there were — there was a lot of frustration that he would go so long without ever taking press questions. And at best you got something really quick and then you were rushed out of the room.”
“I want to make sure the audience is clear on this. So, everybody watching at home, you’re saying that they didn’t see what we were playing since 2019, which is a guy that was in significant cognitive decline? That you’re telling me that that they were that blind and they got to see him up close and personal occasionally?” Hannity asked.
“You know, look at the record of the last couple years. We really didn’t see him a ton. They would put his press secretaries out there to try to lead the administration with a message. They would come up with the message,” Doocy responded.
“Whereas with this White House, President Trump leads the message and the staff takes what he is saying and they form policies from there. They form talking points from there. But it is — it is just completely different,” Doocy said.