Fox News reporter Peter Doocy clashed with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday over Vice President Harris’s beliefs about President Biden’s border policy.
Doocy asked Jean-Pierre about Harris’s commitment to hiring more border agents, concluding that the vice president must disagree with Biden’s approach to the southern border.
“How long have you guys known that Vice President Harris does not think that President Biden is effective with his border?” Doocy asked.
Jean-Pierre rejected the question, pushing back on any idea that there is a such a policy difference in the White House.
“I mean, you’re making a huge jump there. She did not say this. This is something that you are assuming. I don’t understand why you would assume that. It’s not true,” Jean-Pierre replied.
“Really, we believe that,” she continued after Doocy asked again. “The president does want more Border Patrol agents. You know who’s getting in the way, you know is getting in the way? Republicans in Congress, they’re getting in the way. You know who else is getting in the way? The former President Donald Trump; he’s getting in the way.”
Republicans have attempted to hit Harris over border policy due to her role in the administration managing big picture causes of immigration, including diplomacy with Central and South American countries. Harris has never overseen day-to-day border policy or held the title of “border czar.”
Jean-Pierre’s comments pointed to the GOP rejection of a bipartisan border bill earlier this year that would have strengthened border security. Trump opposed the plan.
“There’s no daylight here. I’m not understanding the question because there’s no daylight,” she added. “The president believes that as well, and he’s worked towards doing that.”
“There’s a bipartisan — I know you guys probably get sick of me saying this — but there was a bipartisan agreement that was on the table that the president worked through for a couple of months with Republicans in the Senate and Democrats,” she continued. “They were told not to move forward because it would help Joe Biden by the former president. That’s their decision.”