White House Press Secretary Called Out for Saying Trump ‘Stole’ 2016 Election

During the White House press briefing on Tuesday, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy confronted Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre with old tweets in which she accused various Republicans of stealing elections, an offense which she now routinely denounces in the context of former president Trump’s claims about the 2020 election.

In December 2016, Jean-Pierre accused Trump of having stolen his electoral victory over Hillary Clinton.

Asked about her record of election denial, Jean-Pierre said it was “ridiculous” for Doocy to compare her statements about the 2016 election, which she now says pertained to voter suppression, to former president Trump’s continued insistence that he is the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election.

“You tweeted in 2016 Trump stole an election, you tweeted [Georgia Governor] Brian Kemp stole an election. If denying election results is extreme now, why wasn’t it then?” Doocy asked Jean-Pierre, alluding to President Joe Biden labeling MAGA Republicans as “extreme” for supporting Trump’s stolen election claims.

“I knew this was coming. I was waiting for you to ask me that question,” Jean-Pierre interjected.

“Let’s be really clear. That comparison that you made is just ridiculous,” she added. “I was talking specifically at the time about what was happening with voting rights, and what was in danger of voting rights.”

“Here’s the thing: I have said Governor Kemp won the election in Georgia. I’ve been clear about that. I have said President Trump won the election in 2016, and I’ve been clear about that,” Jean-Pierre said, claiming that Biden’s “extreme” comments are in reference to “what happened on January 6.”

“Yes, when you have MAGA 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 . . . yes, the president is going to call that out,” she added.

Biden and Jean-Pierre have made repeated comments about MAGA Republicans being “extreme,” calling them an “extreme threat to our democracy” and their philosophy being similar to “semi-fascism.”

Just days after Biden accused Republicans of “semi-fascism,” a local GOP office in Seminole County, Fla., was vandalized with a vulgar message reading “Eat sh** fascists.”

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