U.S. President Joe Biden was caught on a hot mic cursing a Fox News reporter at a White House event on Monday after the journalist shouted a question about the impact of rising inflation on this year’s congressional elections.
As journalists were ushered out of a meeting of Biden’s Competition Council, Peter Doocy, a White House correspondent with whom Biden regularly spars, asked if it was OK to ask about inflation and if it was a political liability.
U.S. consumer prices increased solidly in December, culminating in the largest annual rise in inflation in nearly four decades.
Within about an hour of the exchange, Biden called Doocy’s cell phone and said “it’s nothing personal, pal,” Doocy later told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Biden took office a year ago pledging to take a hard line on any disrespect among members of his administration.
