Washington: US President Joe Biden was caught on a hot mike cursing a Fox News reporter at a White House event on 24 January after the journalist shouted a question about the impact of rising inflation on this year’s congressional elections.
As journalists were leaving the room after the event, Peter Doocy from Fox News, ‘the favorite channel of Conservatives’, asked whether inflation is a political liability.
The Democratic leader, possibly unaware that his microphone was still on, began by deadpanning: ‘It’s a great asset. More inflation.’
And then muttered, ‘What a stupid son of a b**h,’ before glancing briefly down.
Doocy said that the US President reached out to him ‘within an hour’ of the incident with the apology. ‘He called my cell phone and he just said ‘It’s nothing personal, pal’,’ the journalist told talk show host Sean Hannity.
US consumer prices increased solidly in December, culminating in the largest annual rise in inflation in nearly four decades.