Now that Jen Psaki has left the White House after shielding the Biden administration from the press for the last 16 months, it is now time for Karine Jean-Pierre to take control of the podium as she became the first black, gay immigrant to hold the position. On Monday, she marked the occasion by stating, “I am obviously acutely aware that my presence at this podium represents a few firsts. I am a black gay immigrant woman, the first of all three of those to hold this position.” While the White House and Jean-Pierre celebrated the historic moment, reality came crashing down as Fox News’ Peter Doocy tested her by asking two simple questions about soaring gas prices. 

With Psaki and Doocy known for having heated discussions about the current problems facing America, her departure hasn’t slowed down the White House correspondent as he asked Jean-Pierre in the video below, “Americans are now spending $5,000 a year on gasoline. That’s almost double what they did a year ago. Where are people supposed to go to get all that extra cash?”

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Not entirely sure how to answer, the new Press Secretary listed off a few initiatives Joe Biden has made before reiterating that soaring gas prices weren’t his fault. “To get the extra cash to pay for gas? Yeah, well, I mean, one of the things that we’ve been very clear about is to do everything in our power to make sure that we lower costs. You know, it is important we see it. The President understands what the American people are going through. And that’s why we’re doing everything that we can. We’ve made multiple announcements in the past several months of what we’re doing, whether it’s the Strategic Petroleum Reserve whether it’s the ethanol 15, to make sure that the American people are not feeling Putin’s price hike. This is where 60 to 70% of the current price hike that we have seen has come from Putin’s aggression against Ukraine.”

Like many Americans, Doocy wasn’t buying the narrative that Putin should carry all the blame. He asked, “He announced on March 31 that he’s got all these steps to lower gas prices. And it’s still Putin’s fault seven weeks later?”

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Stumped by the questions, Jean-Pierre noted again, “Well, because what I’m saying is, since the war, since Putin’s war, aggression against Ukraine started back in February, we did see a spike. But before then, the price per gallon had fallen down about 10 cents or more. And then Putin started his aggression on Ukraine, his violent aggression on Ukraine, against their democracy, against their sovereignty, and we saw about I mean, the facts show it went up about 60 to 70%. So it is Putin’s tax hike. This is what we’re talking about.”

Users sided with Doocy, writing, “Doing all you can? It’s not Putin’s fault. The US can start producing your own. Same with Canada. We have tons of oil in Alberta, yet Trudeau shuts production down..”

Other comments included:

• “How will ppl afford gas? *scans notes* (talk about Putin).”
• “My 7th grade English teacher had a bell she would ring if she thought you were bullshitting an oral report…ding ding.”
• “This lady has been briefed: if you get difficult questions, start talking about Putin’s aggression (his “violent” aggression, no less ).”

This piece was written by Zach Heilman on May 18, 2022. It originally appeared in RedVoiceMedia.com and is used by permission.

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