DOOCY TIME: Here’s Peter’s Top Briefing Room Tangles With Jen Psaki in 2021

The White House Briefing Room, after four years filled with showboaters like April Ryan and Jim Acosta becoming Resistance icons, saw a completely different program in 2021. Jen Psaki was the Press Secretary. There were plenty of softballs and tough questions as well as boring, inoffensive and repetitive questions on The Psaki show. But often times, one could count on one man to do what Acosta refused to do in respectfully challenging an administration: Fox’s Peter Doocy.

Doocy (and a few others) continue to report on Doocy’s adventures day after day. New York Post’s Steven Nelson, Daily Caller’s Shelby Talcott, Real Clear Politics’s Philip Wegmann, and Doocy’s wife, Hillary Vaughn of Fox Business) arrived with cordial yet probing questions. We wish there were more such questions in Trump briefings.

NewsBusters examined the more than 100 blogs under our umbrella to celebrate the 2021 end. “White House Press Briefing” tagWe found the 20 best moments of Doocy and Psaki.

Below, you’ll find that countdown, presented in chronological order with a link to its original NewsBusters blog.

1. February 8 — BOOM: Doocy Battles Psaki Over ‘Green Jobs,’ Not Deporting Illegals for Violent Crimes

Our first entry came just under three weeks into the administration in which Doocy repeatedly inquired with Psaki about “when” and “where” fossil fuel workers “can go for their green jobs” with the White House’s green ambitions growing running in conflict to their employment and livelihood.

2. February 24 — Peter Doocy Schools Jen Psaki: So If This Isn’t ‘Kids in Cages,’ Is It ‘Kids in Containers?’

Unlawful immigrants found themselves in conditions similar to those that Trump had criticised during his term. The White House however maintained its commitment to treating everyone with respect.

It was on this theme that Doocy brought a scorcher to the Q&A:

We spoke yesterday about immigration and this facility — HHS facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas for migrant children. It isn’t children living in cages, you stated. We’ve seen some photos now of containers. Do you think there is a better way to describe it? Are the children in containers or in cages? What is the White House’s description of this facility?

3. March 10 — ‘It’s Not Funny’; FNC’s Doocy Fights WH Over Biden’s Immigration Crisis

The border crisis continued to rage into March and Doocy spent this Psaki Show wondering aloud whether the administration has “a messaging problem” and why did they allow detention centers to be packed to the brim while many schools stayed closed through much of the school year.

When Psaki scoffed at Doocy’s question about whether “the Border Patrol unions and the HHS unions been easier to work with than the teachers’ unions,” the Fox reporter’s face became red as he hit back: “It’s not funny.”

4. March 11 — Peter Doocy Wipes the Floor with WH, Schools Jen Psaki on Covid at the Border

Doocy returned to the scene the following day, highlighting the importance of Covid standards between illegal and international immigration crossing the southern border.

Psaki tried to wiggle out by pinning some of the blame on Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX), but Doocy wasn’t having it.

5. June 30 — Doocy Hangs Tough, Continues to Battle Psaki Over Her Defund the Police Lies

Skipping ahead to Briefing Room fireworks from the summer months (pun intended), Doocy battled Psaki for the second time over her gaslighting that Republicans are the Defund the Police party when he wanted her to name names of Republicans who “said they did not like the American Rescue Plan because they wanted to defund the police.”

Psaki continued to double down while Doocy spoke facts. Doocy cited the reasons Republicans provided for opposing this legislative boondoggle. It was spun not only as being about Covid relief but also as the fact that many House Democrats favor defunding of the police.

6. July 2 — Holiday Fireworks: Doocy, Psaki Square Off Over Defund the Police, Hot Dog Tweet

As the discussion continued to this part of the briefing, it was also about the push for defunding the police. But this Doocy/Psaki duel also featured a tone-deaf White House Tweet celebrating a 16 percent drop in the price of food for a Fourth of Jul barbeque.

7. July 14 — Doocy Owns Psaki on Runaway Texas Dems, Refusing to Denounce Communism in Cuba

During one of the rare briefings when reporters didn’t have to wear masks, Doocy pressed Psaki on the deadbeat Texas state House Democrats through the lens of whether Biden ever “hopped on a train and left to avoid a vote that…he was going to lose” as well as the administration’s initial refusal to cite communism as the main reason for massive protests that swept across Cuba.

Doocy Grilled alsoPsaki attempted to do this again the next day, but it proved futile.

8. July 16 — BOOM: Peter Doocy, Philip Wegmann SCHOOL Jen Psaki on Big Tech Censorship

Back in July, the administration reminded Americans of the left’s coziness with Big Tech when it discussed cracking down on what it deemed Covid misinformation, so it fell to Doocy (and Wegmann) to irk Psaki with important questions about whether the White House is “spying on people’s Facebook profiles.”

Also in this briefing, Doocy called out Dr. Tony Fauci’s repeated flip-flops on masking.

9. July 27 — Even THEY Have Had Enough: Reporters Unleash on Psaki Over Return of Masks

Doocy, who was only one of several reporters present at the briefing on July 31, was pressing the administration to provide answers. The federal government had announced that Americans would need to stop masking.

Doocy was joined on the hard questions by reporters of outlets such as ABC, CBS and Reuters. The Wall Street JournalFox’s reporter, however, pointed out that a renewed obsession with masking may decrease confidence in coronavirus vaccines.

10. August 6 — Well Then: Doocy Gets Psaki to Admit Parents Shouldn’t Have a Say in Masks at Schools

When the impending start of a new school year triggered another liberal media onslaught against Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for calling citizens to live their lives, Doocy’s relentless questioning about masks and school Covid policies resulted in a massive own goal as Psaki conceded parents should shut up and let public officials dictate what happens in schools.

11. August 11 — How About THAT: Doocy Asks Psaki If Biden Created Vaccine Hesitancy in 2020

For a left that spent much of 2020 feigning outrage over Operation Warp Speed and questioning whether the Covid vaccines would be safe, the tables turned once they returned to power in 2021, but Doocy did his best to not let them get away with it as he questioned Psaki during this briefing about Biden’s own comments denouncing the shots before Election Day.

12. August 23 — BEATDOWN: Doocy, Wegmann Lead Shellacking of Biden WH on Afghanistan

As the liberal media came together to expose the terrible nature of U.S. withdrawing from Afghanistan after 20 years of conflict, it was a week of an “out-of-body” experience. During one of the briefings, Doocy infuriated Psaki by describing Americans in the country as having been “stranded” and wondering how the withdrawal helps Biden’s upbeat proclamation that “American is back” as a true global leader.

On the next day, there were more verbal beatings continued as he wondered whether the Taliban has more control over the U.S. military’s own movements than President Biden.

13. September 8 — Doocy Throws Down With Psaki Over Leaving Americans Behind in  Afghanistan

Doocy returned following a break and just over a week after the August 31 U.S. deadline to withdrawal from Afghanistan with questions about the U.S.’s failure in leaving Americans behind under Taliban rule.

Doocy shared this funny tidbit with the topic: “There are now more terrorists wanted by the FBI in the new Afghan government than there are women. Does the President think that is a foreign policy success?”

14. September 22 — Thank Goodness: Doocy Stumps Psaki on the Border While Ryan Makes a Scene

Another border surge reared its head in the late summer/early fall and, with Fox’s Bill Melugin doing yeoman’s work on the ground, Doocy was there in the Briefing Room to hold the administration to account.

Doocy’s strongest moment of the year was when he had an epic discussion with Psaki regarding whether Biden ever traveled to the south border.

Despite Psaki’s spin, the answer was no and Doocy spent numerous briefings ContinueYou can find more information here HammerThis point.

15. September 23 — Peter Doocy Ticks Off Jen Psaki After Grilling Her on Biden’s Border Crisis

Doocy, who remained focused only on the border crisis in its entirety, continued asking questions about 15,000 illegal immigrants living under a Del Rio Texas bridge. How did they get there? administration’s “helping” to “stop the spread” of Covid even though thousands of illegal immigrants were bused throughout the southwestern U.S. that would allow them to then fan out across the country when the only ones tested were those “show[ing] symptoms.”

16. October 19 — DOOCY TIME: Peter Spars With Psaki Over Covid Mandates, Govt Spying, Illegal Immigrants

It was a true tour de force on this fall afternoon as Doocy fit in three huge topics, including the possibility that vaccine mandates don’t actually “make people safer” if droves of firemen, police officers and troops are let go for failing to comply with requirements to take the Covid vaccines.

17. December 1 — Double Dip: Doocy Takes Swings at Fauci, Psaki Over Biden’s Covid Policies

Following an exchange with Fauci about the lack of Covid testing at the border, Doocy had a blunt question many Americans have likely been wondering: “What ever happened to President Biden’s promise to shut down the virus?”

Doocy asked for another scorcher.

[A] lot of talk about the first Trump-Biden debate, but at the second one, in 2020, when roughly 220,000 Americans had already died of Covid, Joe Biden said about Trump: “Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as President of the United States of America.” Is that still the standard now that more Americans have died under President Biden then President Trump?

18. December 2 — Trouble in Paradise: Doocy Hits Psaki Over Harris Turnover, Rampant Crime

Omicron dominated briefings throughout December, but Doocy made sure to fit in a few other questions as, during this briefing, he honed in on the staff turnover with Vice President Kamala Harris with one ponderance being whether Harris hasn’t been “satisfied with the staffing that she has had…or do people just not want to work for her anymore.”

And on crime, Doocy highlighted the rise in robberies and demanded to know what Biden was “going to do about all this lawlessness.” It was here (and in other briefings) that Psaki pinned the blame on Covid. A few weeks later, it’s still mind boggling.

19. December 3 — Psaki REFUSES to Tell Doocy Whether Biden Thinks Far-Left DA’s Are Causing Mass Crime

Staying on rising crime, Doocy presented to Psaki the factor district attorney’s play in curbing unrest and specifically whether the “increase in criminal activity” has been due to “some prosecutors” being “too soft on crime.”

With the Soros-backed DA’s all being Democrats, Psaki chose to tread carefully and talk about what the White House could do in terms of funding police departments.

20. December 23 — Doocy for the Holidays: Peter, Jen Tangle Over Covid, Crime in Psaki Show Season Finale

In the final briefing of 2021, Doocy called out Biden’s false claims about “nobody” having foreseen the rise of the omicron variant, why the administration has promised hundreds of millions of free Covid tests next month if the federal contract hasn’t even been finalized, if those behind healthcare.gov would be behind the testing site, and then two questions about crime following the carjacking of Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) in South Philadelphia.