The arsonist who set the plastic Christmas tree outside of the Fox News headquarters in midtown Manhattan on fire was arrested and later released without bail under New York's bail-reform law.
New York's 2019 law is not overseen by President Joe Biden's administration.
But Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy was insistent on trying to blame Biden for releasing the suspect and overall being lax on criminals who are allegedly attacking America.
Peter Doocy Cries To Jen Psaki Over Fox Christmas Cone Arsonhttps://dlvr.it/SFJCWF— #TuckFrump (@#TuckFrump) 1639424019
Police said last Wednesday morning's conflagration did not appear to be premeditated. The suspect was a 49-year-old homeless man who had a history of drug-related arrests and did not have an apparent political agenda.
Days after the arson attack, the far-right conservative news channel remained fixated on the incident, in which nobody was hurt.
FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott sent a company-wide email blasting the incident as a "malicious arson attack" and Fox News contributor Reverend Jacques DeGraff even compared it to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
At Monday's White House briefing, Doocy asked if big cities were dealing with an "increase in criminal activity" due to prosecutors being "soft on crime."
To which White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration was focused on addressing the problem rather than citing a definitive reason.
Fox News' Peter Doocy brings up the Fox Christmas tree fire in today's press briefing.\n\n"We've seen an arsonist burn down a half-million-dollar Christmas tree in New York City -- back out on the street! Does the president think that that\u2019s good governing?"pic.twitter.com/B3ZfBk65Mk— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1639419619
"The President has proposed additional funding in the budget to make sure local police departments and cops have the funding they need," she said.
"We have also worked directly with police departments in areas where they are seeing the highest impact of the crime, the retail threft [sic] — theft, which we have great concern about."
Doocy was not impressed.
“But I guess what good does it do if you’re gonna give police departments extra money if they arrest bad guys, and they bring ’em to jail, and then they’re not prosecuted?"
"They’re just right back out on the streets."
Peter Doocy is straight up trash for asking a question about petty arson when President Biden has far greater concerns to deal with than that.\n\nI like how Jen Psaki shut him down here!https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1470457917006512133\u00a0\u2026— Mike Sarzo \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Mike Sarzo \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1639424852
Psaki answered:
“I think Peter, what our focus is on is making sure that the local leaders, the police officers and departments who know what they need for these communities have the assistance and the funding they need and that’s what we’re working around the clock on.”
Doocy, however, remained unsatisfied with her response, and pushed further:
“We’ve seen an arsonist burn down a half a million dollar Christmas tree in New York City. Back out on the streets."
He then asked if the President thought that was "good governing,” as if the federal government should be keeping tabs on every minor misdemeanor and low-level crime that is normally handled by the state.
Doocy: We\u2019ve seen an arsonist burn down a half a million dollar Christmas tree in New York City back on the streets. Does the President think that\u2019s good governing?pic.twitter.com/6vWcZoFNdI— Acyn (@Acyn) 1639419461
How would Biden have any influence over whether the alleged arsonist is back out on the street?— Bleeding Heartland (@Bleeding Heartland) 1639429117
For starters, I don't believe it's a half million dollar loss and secondly, when is Doocy going to ask an intelligent question? And what does Biden and governing have to do with it?— The fed up with antivaxxers K T McCormick \ud83c\udf0a (@The fed up with antivaxxers K T McCormick \ud83c\udf0a) 1639420245
Nobody in NYC cares about the Fox tree. There are fires every day, people die & there's $ damage. Some are set by arsonists, nowhere has Fox ever made a big deal about any of those fires, why now, why this fire? They used an inferior flammable tree & someone had a lighter.— Aprile\ud83d\ude3cGuarino\ud83c\udfa2 (@Aprile\ud83d\ude3cGuarino\ud83c\udfa2) 1639420608
Psaki, refusing to continue talking in circles with Doocy, referred him to the New York Police Department–which announced the arsonist's arrest last week.
"Again, I think I’ve spoken to the President’s concerns about retail theft. If you have specific — and the actions we’ve taken for specific cases, I would point to the local police departments or the Department of Justice."
Twitter roasted Doocy and Fox News by pointing out their misguided priorities with their "half-a-million-dollar Christmas tree in New York City."
Why would they spend half a million dollars on a Christmas tree that is going to come down in 3 weeks? Talk about messed up priorities.— Karma's Sleeping (@Karma's Sleeping) 1639419655
Does Jesus think it\u2019s a good use of money to spend half a million dollars on a fake tree instead of the poor?— HNDRX (@HNDRX) 1639419818
Doocy he was touristing like you know the tourists in the capitol on January 6pic.twitter.com/XVj2cS6Ljh— Sara\ud83e\udd8b\ud83c\udf38\ud83c\udff5\ud83c\udf3a (@Sara\ud83e\udd8b\ud83c\udf38\ud83c\udff5\ud83c\udf3a) 1639428816
We have a teen who illegally possessed a firearm, shot at 4 people, hit 3 & killed 2. He\u2019s back on the street\u2026 your network gave him an exclusive interview. Do you think that\u2019s good governing?— PSU Blaze (@PSU Blaze) 1639420473
500K Christmas tree? WTF? I\u2019m sure Jesus is happy FOX spent that money on a tree that can\u2019t feed or cloth anyone and does nothing but serve as a symbol, and a temporary one at that, of Christ\u2019s birth. I think Jesus would say next time feed and cloth the poor.— Bruce Lipman (@Bruce Lipman) 1639421903
You\u2019d think for half a million they could afford to post a security guard around the tree.— GMaldonado Art (@GMaldonado Art) 1639425650
Soup kitchens could have used that $500K to provide ~250K meals on Christmas to the needy.— P\u00e9 (@P\u00e9) 1639420872
The network upset about Kamala\u2019s $300 cookware bought a $500,000 Christmas tree?https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1470457917006512133?s=21\u00a0\u2026— Brian Santa Maria (@Brian Santa Maria) 1639426686
According to a criminal complaint, the arsonist was charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, arson, criminal nuisance, endangering others, criminal trespass, criminal tampering, and disorderly conduct. He was arraigned on supervised release.
When asked about a motive, he told police:
"I have been thinking about lighting the tree on fire all day."
A day after it was set ablaze, the Christmas tree was replaced and relit. Not that that would pacify the fear-mongering folks over at Fox News.
