Fox News reporter Peter Doocy said late Monday that President Biden called him after being caught on a hot mic referring to him as a “stupid son of a bitch” hours earlier at an event at the White House.
“He called my cellphone, and he said, ‘It’s nothing personal, pal,” Doocy told Fox News colleague and prime-time host Sean Hannity. “And we went back and forth, and we were talking about just kind of moving forward.”
Doocy said he told the president he would always “try and ask something different than what everybody else is asking,” to which he said Biden replied, “You’ve got to.”
Doocy at the White House on Monday afternoon shouted a question to the president after a meeting with administration officials on efforts to lower prices for working families.
“Will you take a question on inflation?” Doocy asked. “Do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms?”
“No, it’s a great asset,” Biden deadpanned. “More inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.”
Video clips of the interaction were widely shared across social media in the minutes that followed, and the exchange was reflected in the official White House transcript from the event.
“Nobody has fact-checked him yet and said it’s not true,” Doocy joked during his first appearance on Fox News on Monday night following Biden’s remark.
Hannity asked Doocy if the president actually apologized to him, to which Doocy responded, “He cleared the air, and I appreciated it. We had a nice call.”
“He said, ‘It’s nothing personal, pal,’ and I told him that I appreciated him reaching out. … The world is on the brink of like World War III right now with all this stuff going on. I appreciate that the president took a couple minutes out this evening while he was still at the desk to give me a call and clear the air,” Doocy said. “But you know what? I don’t need anybody to apologize to me. He can call me whatever he wants.”