Biden caught insulting Fox News journalist
WASHINGTON (AFP, REUTERS) - US President Joe Biden was caught on a live microphone on Monday calling a Fox News journalist a "stupid son of a b***h" on the sidelines of a White House photo opportunity.
As journalists were leaving the room after the event, a reporter from Fox News, the favourite channel of Conservatives, asked whether inflation is a political liability.
US consumer prices increased solidly in December, culminating in the largest annual rise in inflation in nearly four decades.
Mr Biden, possibly unaware that his microphone was still on, began by deadpanning: "It's a great asset. More inflation."
He then muttered "What a stupid son of a b***h" before glancing briefly down.
The White House and Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A pool reporter who was in the room at the time admitted to not being able to hear what Mr Biden actually said over the noise.
But he added that he would direct attention to a video of the event "if you are curious how the President really feels about being asked about inflation from Fox's Peter Doocy".
Mr Doocy shrugged off the insult in a later interview on Fox.
"Yeah, nobody has fact-checked him yet and said it's not true," he said, nonchalantly.
Mr Biden’s predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, famously attacked reporters at rallies and news conferences, to the delight of many of his supporters.
Mr Doocy, who has long covered Mr Biden, regularly gets called on by the president at events, often asking skeptical and critical questions. Conservative-leaning Fox News has been critical of Mr Biden’s presidency and Democrats.
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