Peter Doocy Asks Karine Jean-Pierre Why Republicans Are More ‘Jazzed’ About Pelosi’s Taiwan Trip Than Biden

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre why Republicans are “more jazzed” than President Joe Biden about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

Pelosi visited Taiwan on Tuesday despite threats from China. She reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Taiwan.

During Wednesday’s White House press briefing, Doocy asked, “How come Republicans seem more jazzed about Speaker Pelosi’s trip than the president?”

Jean-Pierre appeared to mock Doocy’s question.

“You have to ask Republicans … Jazz? Do they have jazz hands, Peter?” she replied.

“Do I have jazz hands?” asked Doocy.

“Do they?” asked Jean-Pierre. “You said jazz!”

“We can have our Hill team check,” quipped Doocy.

Doocy read statements from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) expressing support for Pelosi’s trip.

“Is President Biden worried about hurting [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping’s] feelings?” asked Doocy.

Jean-Pierre answered Doocy’s question seriously.

“We’ve been very clear,” she said. “We’ve been very clear for, gosh, the past week or so that the Speaker has the right to go to Taiwan.”

Doocy acknowledged that the White House has been clear about that, but asked “why is it so hard for the president to say ‘she’s a brave trailblazer and I think it’s great that she went.’”

Jean-Pierre said Biden believes “Pelosi is a great trailblazer.”

“Do you think it was good that she went,” asked Doocy.

“What we are saying is that we cannot dictate, we will not dictate where members of Congress go,” said Jean-Pierre. “Members of Congress…”

Doocy interrupted and said that, since Pelosi left Taiwan on Wednesday, “now [Biden] can say if he thinks it was good or not” that she went to Taiwan.

“That’s not how it works. That’s not how it works here. It really isn’t,” Jean-Pierre shot back. “Members of Congress have the right to travel wherever they choose. Our part of this is to make sure we give them a thorough and complete briefing when it comes to the geopolitics of the region or the state or when it comes to national security. That is our part in this.”

Watch above, via C-SPAN.