MSNBC’s Jen Psaki Shouts Out Fox’s Peter Doocy for Blunt ‘Trump Is Dead’ Question

MSNBC host and former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki shouted out Fox News Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy for bluntly asking President Donald Trump about chatter speculating that he was secretly dead.

Over the weekend, Trump’s empty schedule, combined with heightened attention after Trump was repeatedly photographed with serious bruising on his hand and swollen ankles — and perhaps a dash of wishful thinking from some — caused “Where’s Trump?” and “Trump is Dead” to become viral trending topics.

During a White House event Tuesday, Doocy asked the president about the chatter in characteristically pointed fashion.

On Tuesday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki, Psaki shouted out her “old pal” and former sparring partner for asking the question, then dissected the president’s ricocheting response:

JEN PSAKI: I’m going to start with Donald Trump because until this afternoon, he had been basically absent from the public eye since last Tuesday, which was his longest stretch away from cameras since becoming president. And that absence, and you may have seen this over the weekend, if you looked at any social media platform, prompted quite a wave of online speculation about the president’s health and well-being.

So today, when he reemerged from his absence for an event in the Oval Office, even my buddy Peter Doocy from Fox News couldn’t resist asking about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS REPORTER: Something completely different, but about a big viral social media trend over the weekend. How did you find out over the weekend that you were dead? Did you see that?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.

DOOCY: People didn’t see it for a couple of days, 1.3 million user engagements as of Saturday morning about your demise.

TRUMP: Really? I didn’t see that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: Really? I didn’t see that, he said.

Now, as I mentioned, Trump’s prolonged absence from the public eye sparked pretty widespread rumors. You probably saw them, but somehow the guy who is famously online at very odd hours and totally obsessed with his own self-image, says he didn’t see any of it.

Let’s see what else he had to say about it today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Really? I didn’t see you know, I have heard it’s sort of crazy, but last week I did numerous news conferences, all successful. They went very well, like this is going very well. And then I didn’t do any for two days and they said there must be something wrong with him. No, I heard that I get reports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: Now that isn’t even an accurate summary of his own appearances in public. But that aside, two seconds into his answer, Trump says he had no idea there were rumors of his death. But 30 seconds later, in that same rambling answer, he says he did know about it. And then he wasn’t even done. He kept going. He kept explaining.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No, I was very active over the weekend. They also knew I went out to visit some people at the — at the club that I own pretty nearby on the Potomac River. And no, I’ve been very active actually, over the weekend. I didn’t hear that one. That’s pretty serious stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: I didn’t hear that one. That’s pretty serious stuff.

Now, just to be clear, we went in just a very quick span there. We went from Trump saying he hadn’t heard about the rumors of his death to Trump, saying he did hear about them from reports to then back to Trump saying he hadn’t heard anything about any of it. In the span of approximately 60 seconds in the Oval Office today. You really can’t make this stuff up sometimes.

And look, we may never know why Donald Trump suddenly spent a week hiding entirely from the American public, but you don’t actually need baseless online conspiracies to explain why he might not want to show his face in public right now. I mean, for starters, there’s the polling, and boy, is it brutal?

Watch above via MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki.

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