Aides to President Joe Biden like to say he is transparent with the reporters who cover him.
This might not have been what they meant.
In a hot-mic moment that may enter the annals of presidential insults, Biden directed an under-the-breath expletive Monday toward Peter Doocy, the White House correspondent for Fox News, that was amplified by a live microphone onto television and laptop screens around the world.
The exchange came as reporters were being ushered away from a brief appearance by Biden in the East Room. Doocy called out a question: “Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?”
Biden’s patience was low. And the volume was up.
“It’s a great asset,” the president said in a sarcastic tone, seemingly to himself. “More inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.”
It was hardly the first time that harsh language intruded on the typically PG-rated interactions between powerful politicians and reporters.
George W. Bush, while running for president in 2000, was caught on a live microphone using a barnyard epithet to refer to a New York Times reporter. (His running mate, Dick Cheney, was overheard affirming Bush’s observation: “big time.”)
During his vice presidency in 2010, Biden was heard using an expletive to convey to President Barack Obama that the signing of the Affordable Care Act was a big deal.
No accident was required for Americans to hear the insults lobbed by former President Donald Trump at his interlocutors in the press. Trump deemed Jim Acosta of CNN “a rude, terrible person,” called Jonathan Karl of ABC “a disgrace,” and said April Ryan, now of TheGrio, was a “loser,” to name but three examples. Among other moments, Trump once mocked the physical disabilities of a Times reporter to entertain his supporters at a campaign rally.
Doocy is a reliable needler of Biden, although the president often appears more bemused than bothered by their jousts. The sometimes spiky exchanges between the men have become a regular feature of Biden’s public appearances.
On Monday, Doocy shouted his question after Biden finished brief remarks at the start of a Cabinet meeting focused on increasing the country’s economic competitiveness. When another journalist yelled out a query about Ukraine, Biden briefly complained that the reporters should ask questions about the topic at hand rather than about unrelated foreign policy.
Doocy, who along with the rest of the press corps was being led out of the room by White House staff members, pivoted to an economic query. Biden, who was still seated, appeared not to realize that the microphone in front of him was still broadcasting audio.
Speaking afterward on Fox News, Doocy recounted what happened with a lopsided grin. “I couldn’t even hear him because people were shouting at us to get out,” he said.
Dana Perino, a Fox News host who served as White House press secretary under Bush, told Doocy that he should embrace the moment. “You might even have a book title,” she joked.
Last week, at another White House event, Biden expressed frustration with another Fox News reporter, Jacqui Heinrich, who had shouted out a question about the president’s approach to the tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
“Why are you waiting on Putin to make the first move, sir?” Heinrich asked. Biden quietly replied: “What a stupid question.”
