White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had yet another encounter with Fox News reporter Peter Doocy's who attempted to use the White House press briefing to spread right-wing rhetoric.
The exchange happened during Tuesday's daily White House press briefing when Doocy asked Psaki about the "tons" of police and military who are quitting their jobs over COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Psaki stumped Doocy by asking follow-up questions he seemed unable to answer.
Doocy's question comes on the heels of recent reports of police officers and military service members in several parts of the country threatening to quit their jobs rather than comply with vaccine mandates.
Doocy asked Psaki how vaccine mandates keep people safe if they result in "tons" of police and military walking off the job.
Psaki replied:
"Where are tons of police and military walking off the job?"
Doocy, unable to answer a question about a thing that has not happened—and isn't even possible in the case of the military—then rattled off various media stories about police and military officers' resignation threats.
Psaki countered by referring Doocy to sources of information about vaccination rates among police and military, the latter of which stands at around 90%.
Undeterred, Doocy then said "There are other problems in the world than COVID-19" and began rattling off a laundry list—from terrorism to violent crime—before Psaki cut him off with a question that dismantled his entire narrative.
"What was the number one cause of death among police officers last year? Do you know?"
When Doocy simply stared back in return, Psaki gave him the answer:
"COVID-19."
Psaki then voiced the Biden Administration's support for police departments' and the military's efforts to get the vaccination rates among their forces as high as possible.
On Twitter, people applauded the way Psaki handled Doocy's attempts to twist the narrative.
Conservatives have seized upon recent stories of police threatening resignations, particularly a viral video that claims to show Seattle first responders turning in their boots in protest against vaccine mandates.
That characterization is inaccurate, and while some large police forces' vaccination rates remain worryingly low, Seattle is not among them.
91% of police officers and 90% of fire fighters in the city are fully vaccinated.
