Jean-Pierre Rips Greg Abbott Over ‘Political Theater’ At Border: ‘His First Call Goes To Fox News’

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over his latest border move, accusing Abbott of “political theater” aided by Fox News.

On Monday, Abbott held a press conference ahead of the lifting of Title 42, where he announced a new deployment of National Guard troops and lashed out at President Joe Biden.

At Monday’s press briefing, veteran Dallas Morning News White House Correspondent Todd Gillman asked Jean-Pierre about Abbott’s presser, and KJP pointedly told Gillman that “Fox News” is “where his first call goes” instead of “working in collaboration with the President”:

TODD GILLMAN: On — and on the border, Governor Abbott announced just a little while ago he’s sending another 450 National Guard to the border. He said some pretty tough words for the President. He calls it a “Biden-made crisis.” He said the cartels are working in collaboration with the President and the federal government to facilitate illegal border crossings. And Governor Abbott said, quote, “We are being overrun by our own federal government. Texas is being undermined by our own federal government in our efforts to secure our border.”

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, you know, there’s a way to handle those type of announcements — and the governor knows this — and — and in order to be helpful to what’s happening, and that’s by coordinating with federal authorities, something that he refuses to do, something that he doesn’t do.

But, you know, his first call always tends to be, when it comes to this issue, is — has been — when it comes to this issue, dealing with the federal government — has been to Fox News. That’s what he does. That’s where his first call goes. That’s where he likes — that’s how — that tells you what he’s up to.

This is just about political theater for him. This is not really dealing with this issue. It’s about creating more chaos. It’s about creating more confusion at the border. That’s what he wants to do. That’s what he chooses to do.

And that’s not what we want to do. We’re see- — we’re do — we’re u- — we are — put into place a robust plan, multiple a- — multiple agencies. You’ve seen Mayorkas on the border very recently. He was on Sunday’s show just this Sunday to talk about what we’re doing. The DHS has been very clear. The State Department has — has had press conferences. The Pentagon briefed on this just last week.

We’re using the tools that we have in front of us to deal with this issue. Republican officials want to do something else. They want to campaign on this issue. They want to do political stunts. That’s what we’re seeing from the governor — governor of Texas.

Watch above via The White House.