White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shut down Fox News reporter Peter Doocy after he suggested President Joe Biden's speech condemning gun violence and calling for stricter gun control measures was just a distraction from bad press.
Biden delivered his speech in the wake of a massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead; an act of White nationalist domestic terrorism at a Buffalo, New York supermarket that left 10 dead; and other mass shootings around the country, including one at a Tulsa, Oklahoma medical clinic.
But that did not appear to satisfy Doocy, who insisted the White House is distracting Americans from rising inflation and a natonwide baby formula shortage.
You can watch the exchange between Doocy and Jean-Pierre in the video below.
Doocy said:
“The White House had some very hard headlines this week about inflation and about baby formula."
"If there’s nothing new you can point to in this speech tonight, did you just schedule it to get people talking about something else?”
To that, Jean-Pierre replied:
"People have died."
“We had 19 kids die in Uvalde just recently. Just last night in Tulsa, we’re learning of people who were, again, killed. So this is not about politics. This is not about partisan politics here.”
“It is disheartening to hear that this could potentially, or if I’m hearing this right, could be used as a political tool, and that’s not what this is.
"This is about people's lives."
Many have praised Jean-Pierre for her response.
In his speech, Biden made a plea for stricter gun control laws and called on Congress to act. Biden proposed that Congress expand background check requirements for gun purchases and create new rules for safely storing weapons.
Biden also suggested that lawmakers enact new "red flag" laws that would prohibit those with criminal records from purchasing weapons, repeal laws that shield gun manufacturers from liability for mass shootings, and improve students' access to mental health care.
However, Biden acknowledged that Senate Republicans were likely to block any legislation that would create stricter gun control laws.
Mass shootings have dominated the news cycle in recent weeks. There were more than a dozen mass shootings over Memorial Day weekend alone.
