Jen Psaki and Fox News reporter Peter Doocy have shared an adversarial relationship during her time as White House press secretary, but as her tenure draws to a close, they’re leaving things on a lighter note.
President Joe Biden announced Thursday that deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will take over from Psaki when she steps down on May 13.
As Psaki took questions from reporters in the briefing room Thursday, she called on Doocy, who said: “Thank you Jen. Sorry to see you go.”
“Are you?” Psaki replied with a smile, setting off laughter in the room.
“Yes, and you’ve always been a good sport,” Doocy replied. “So on behalf of everybody, thank you for everything.”
“Thank you. As have you,” said Psaki.
Psaki and Doocy have sparred and clashed routinely during her time at the briefing room podium, though both have admitted their relationship is far less combative behind the scenes.
“But my engagement with him, people don’t always see this, but outside the briefing room, it is entirely professional and entirely, hopefully, responsive,” Psaki said in August. “There’s a performative component from the TV side of the briefing room.”
And in an interview on a podcast last month, when asked if Doocy really was “a stupid son of a bitch,” she said: “He works for a network that provides people with questions that ― nothing personal to any individual, including Peter Doocy ― but might make anyone sound like a stupid son of a bitch.”
Doocy, for his part, told the Washingtonian last year it’s “a very low-blood-pressure briefing room” and that when Psaki promises to circle back to him on a question, she always does within a few hours.