Brian Stelter Says Biden ‘Knows What He Was Doing’ When He Cursed Peter Doocy on Hot Mic

CNN media reporter Brian Stelter said he thinks President Joe Biden was well aware of the hot mic when he cursed Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy and seemed to take a dimmer view of the insult than Doocy himself did.

It was the snark heard ’round the world Monday when Biden roasted Doocy as a “stupid son of a bitch” on a live microphone at the end of a photo op with the White House Competition Council — immortalized for all time in an official White House transcript.

Doocy took the jab in stride, and later recounted a cordial phone call with the president in which Biden smoothed things over — likely at the suggestion of White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

On Tuesday morning’s edition of CNN’s New Day, Stelter offered up his analysis of what co-anchor Brianna Keilar called “the big media story” of the day.

Keilar played the clip and noted, for content, that “Mr. Doocy there is sort of a thorn in the side often of Jen Psaki, of President Biden. In the end, though, the president called him to apologize.”

But Doocy was asked if the president apologized, when recounting the call, and repeatedly declined to call it an apology.

And Stelter began his analysis by telling Keilar that “certainly you see the smile on Biden’s face. I don’t think he’s surprised this was caught on Mike. I think he knows what he was doing.”

He also said that “whether it was Donald Trump saying Chuck Todd was an S.O.B. or whether it’s President Biden saying Steve Doocy, Peter Doocy is an S.O.B., it’s wrong. No matter what.”

Stelter urged consistency, and said the “president should be held to the highest standards. And so in this case, Biden was out of line.”

“I think he knew it because he called Doocy right away to say sorry and try to play as water under the bridge,” Stelter added, although again, Doocy would not say that Biden apologized.

Stelter also talked about the broader Biden strategy with Fox News, saying that “they’ve mostly chosen to play footsie with Fox. Appear on Fox, sometimes take questions from Doocy.”

Psaki made an appearance on Fox News last week, and takes questions from Doocy whenever he’s at a briefing, as does Biden. And in an interview with Mediaite, Psaki made a point of praising her off-camera relationship with Doocy.

Watch above via CNN.