AWKWARD! Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich Asks Jen Psaki About That Time Biden Called Heinrich’s Question ‘Stupid’

Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about a hot mic moment in which President Joe Biden referred to Heinrich’s question as “stupid.”

At the end of a photo op Thursday afternoon, Heinrich shouted an unscheduled question that Biden did not answer, but did comment on into a hot mic. The official White House transcript recorded the exchange as follows:

Q: Why are you waiting on Putin to make the first move, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) What a stupid question.

At Friday’s briefing, Heinrich asked about that exchange, although in an awkwardly oblique way.

“Is the president aware that he was caught on a hot mic yesterday, and why does he appear to be dismissing the idea of proactive deterrence?” Heinrich asked, narrowing the content of the question she’d asked the president.

“Well, the president certainly does not dismiss that idea, considering he has taken a lot of steps, including supporting and approving the several sanctions that were put out by the Treasury Department just a couple of days ago,” Psaki said, before proceeding to tick through a laundry list of actions related to Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine.

Heinrich then asked about a comment Psaki made Thursday, that “It’s important to remember who the aggressor is here. The aggressor is Russia and Putin. They are building up military troops. They are pushing out misinformation in Ukraine.”

“So why does it seem like U.S. officials are so concerned about being seen as escalating things if Russia has created this whole crisis?” Heinrich asked.

“Because I think we want the American public, and also the global community, to be clear-eyed about propaganda, and they are pushing propaganda about Ukrainians.”

“Certainly, there’s propaganda pushed here in the United States,” Psaki added, which could also be seen as awkward given that some hosts on Heinrich’s network have been accused of promoting just such propaganda.

“But this is about a foreign potential foreign conflict. It’s about the buildup of troops by one power that is a much larger military power than the other on the border. And we want to be very clear with the public about the realities and the facts,” Psaki said.

Watch above via The White House.