White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sparred with a Fox News reporter who questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’s role in the border crisis.
On Thursday, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre about the vice president’s involvement at the border. The press secretary proceeded to deflect criticism from Harris while slamming conservatives for blocking immigration reform and claiming that Harris’s so-called border czar position never existed.
“Democrats on Capitol Hill are being handed this card with talking points about the vice president and the border,” Doocy told Jean-Pierre as he held up a flier. He told the press secretary that the first talking point said, “Vice President Harris was never appointed Border Czar. There’s never been such a position, it doesn’t exist.”
The White House press secretary denied knowledge about the talking points while agreeing that the position never existed.
“We are going to debunk the false characterization of the vice president. She was not a border czar. Independent fact-checkers have said the same thing, that that did not exist, and that that is not true,” Jean-Pierre told Doocy.
The exchange between the two came as some media outlets have changed messaging around Harris’s role at the border. While the vice president was commonly called the “border czar” by media networks for her role in overseeing U.S. relations with Central America in 2021, the label is being challenged by Democratic allies.
When the Fox News reporter asked the White House spokeswoman, “Why are Democrats so sensitive about the vice president and the border?” the tension between the two increased. Jean-Pierre shifted blame to the GOP and former President Donald Trump for thwarting a border deal in February.
“Why are Republicans so sensitive about actually not owning up to them getting in the way of a border deal? Why?” she pushed back. “Why won’t they own up to that? Why won’t they own up to the last president who told them not to move forward?”
“Do you think that the border would be less of a talking point now if there was less migration to the border, say if somebody had addressed root causes of migration sooner?” the Fox News reporter responded.
Visibly irritated, Jean-Pierre retorted, “Wait, hold on a second — did you not hear the beginning of my … I know there were a lot of talkers.”
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“I talked about what we’re seeing at the border. It’s down by 55%,” the White House press secretary said. “Not because of Republicans and Congress and what they did but because of what this president and the vice president and what they did.”
Her defense of the Biden administration’s border policy comes as the GOP ramps up its attack on the Harris. This week, the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Harris for her role on the border. Six Democrats joined all Republicans in backing the bill.
