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Karine Jean-Pierre was caught in a bit of hypocrisy on Tuesday when Fox News’ Peter Doocy confronted her about social media posts she made in 2016 claiming that then-candidate Donald Trump had stolen the election.
“You tweeted in 2016 that Trump stole an election,” Doocy said. “If denying election results is extreme now, why wasn’t it then?”
Jean-Pierre tried to laugh it off, but Doocy was not having any of it. “I knew this was coming,” she said.
The exchange came after Jean-Pierre had spent the previous day lecturing Republicans planning to challenge the Electoral College results when they are formally announced next week.
“The Republican Party is going down a very dark and dangerous path,” she said on Monday. “And we’ve seen this before in our history.”
“What we are seeing from the Republican Party right now is an all-out assault on our democracy,” she added.
Jean-Pierre: “That comparison that you made is just ridiculous.” Doocy kept at it, and Jean-Pierre said:
“Look, the election in 2016 was incredibly close. And I think that there were a lot of questions about whether or not the election was stolen from Hillary Clinton. But what we’re seeing now is an election that was not close. Joe Biden won by 7 million votes. And Donald Trump is just refusing to accept the results.”
Doocy then brought up Clinton’s concession speech, to which Jean-Pierre responded:
“She conceded because she is a patriot. She knew that the best interest of this country was moving forward. That’s what Joe Biden is doing. He’s a patriot.”
Doocy concluded by saying: “So, you think it’s patriotic to try to overturn an election somebody else won?”
Jean-Pierre again responded: “No, I think it’s patriotic to accept the results of an election and move forward.”
“Let me answer it, I was talking specifically at that time of what was happening with voting rights and what was in danger of voting rights. So that’s what I was speaking to at the time.
“And here’s the thing, I have said Governor Kemp won the election in Georgia. I’ve been clear about that. I have told President Trump won the election of 2016. I’ve been clear about that.
“What we are talking about right now is, let’s not forget what happened on January 6, 2021, when we saw an insurrection, a mob that was incited by the person who occupied this campus, this facility at that time.
“I was an attack on our democracy. Let’s not forget people died that day. Law enforcement was attacked that day. That was the danger that we were seeing at the time; that’s what the president has called out, and that’s what he’s going to continue to call out.
“So yes when you have mega republicans, an extreme part of republicans, who just deny or do not want to really say what exactly happened on that day. Or say it was a protest when it clearly was not a peaceful protest. That’s not what we saw on that day yes the president is going to call that out.”
It is clear that Jean-Pierre only believes that challenging election results is wrong when it is done by a Republican. When she thought Trump had stolen the election, she had no problem tweeting about it.
The double standard is clear, and Jean-Pierre was rightfully called out for it.
