The daily White House press briefing is intended to provide a platform for the administration to outline its agenda and for the press to pose questions to the administration. Ordinarily the press would compose questions that would elicit information of interest to their readers and viewers, the American people.

Unfortunately, that is almost never the case with ultra-partisan right-wing outfits like Fox News. Their correspondents routinely craft inquiries whose only purpose is to malign the President or advance their pre-chewed conservative doctrine. And there is no better example of this media malfeasance than Fox’s Peter Doocy. Every time he is called upon by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Doocy scrapes the barrel bottom of pseudo-journalism and opens himself up to well deserved ridicule.

On Monday Doocy sought to trap Psaki by asserting that President Biden had broken a promise not to interfere with how the Justice Department operates. Earlier this week Biden was asked about whether the House Select Committee on January 6th should enforce its subpoenas against witnesses who refuse to cooperate. Biden replied that he hopes “that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable.” When asked whether he believed the Justice Department should prosecute them, Biden told reporters, “I do, yes.”

That was a somewhat imprecise phrasing of the administration’s position. A Justice Department spokesperson quickly clarified that the DOJ “will make its own independent decisions in all prosecutions based solely on the facts and the law.” But unlike Donald Trump, at no time did Biden direct the DOJ to take any particular action. He was merely expressing his “hope” that the law be upheld.

Doocy demonstrated his inquisitory impotence by falsely asserting in a blatantly leading question that Biden broke a promise regarding the administration of the Justice Department. Psaki asked him how Biden had broken any promise. But all that Doocy could come up with was a rewording of the same assertion that Psaki had already answered. That went on for another couple of rounds before leading up to this exchange:

Doocy: What’s changed since last year when [Biden] said ‘I will not do what former president Trump does and use the Justice Department as my vehicle to insist that something happen?’
Psaki: Since you’ve given me the opportunity here, former president Trump used his department to incite an insurrection. He put political pressure on senior DOJ officials to propagate lies about the election to the point where they threatened to resign en mass. I think there is hardly a comparison there.
Doocy: President Biden said, ‘the Justice Department and my administration will be totally independent of me,’ and he said he would not enter into any decisions about what cases the agency will bring and not…
Psaki: And he has not, and he will not .And criminal prosecutions are the sole purview of the Department of Justice. That is the President’s position. That is what he nominated the Attorney General to operate under.

When will Peter Doocy get tired of being dunked on by Jen Psaki? pic.twitter.com/q0SVFmtIq2

— Edward Hardy (@EdwardTHardy) October 18, 2021

It was helpful of Doocy to remind everyone that Trump had “used the Justice Department as [his] vehicle” to pursue his personal interests and acts of vengeance. Indeed, Trump had repeatedly corrupted the independence of the Justice Department by ordering it to act as if they were his private attorneys. He was even doing it after he was no longer president.

Psaki correctly pointed out to Doocy that “Trump used his department to incite an insurrection” and to “put political pressure on senior DOJ officials.” Trump tried to get the DOJ to buy into his “Big Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” and “stolen” from him. But that still didn’t deter Doocy from reiterating his failed argument that Biden had somehow interfered with DOJ decisions. He didn’t. And Psaki affirmed that he wouldn’t.

In the end, the only thing that Doocy accomplished was to provide Psaki with an opportunity to explain in further detail the White House’s dedication to the independence of the Department of Justice. While simultaneously refreshing the public memory about Trump’s misconduct in office and his gross inability to comprehend the proper role of the presidency. So perhaps we don’t give Doocy enough credit for helping Psaki to set the record straight. Thanks Pete.

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.