Jen Psaki schools Fox News reporter on voting rights: 'I don't think it's funny'

Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy got schooled and handed a lesson on voting rights after he tried to target Democrats and President Biden over Texas voting rights. Doocy tried to turn Democrats' fight for voting rights against Joe Biden but White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called him out on it. Texas Democratic lawmakers left their state and headed for Washington DC to prevent state Republicans from passing restrictive voting laws. Peter Doocy tried to compare the actions to Biden's experience as a Senator and then tried to mock Psaki's statement that it was a matter of voting rights. Psaki ended up giving him a lecture on the importance of voting rights in the United States. 

The Texas Democratic lawmakers had left the state to prevent the Texas House of Representatives from reaching quorum to vote on legislation to restrict voting access during elections. Doocy, who's the son of Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy, tried to target the 51 Democratic lawmakers from Texas. "Do you know of any examples from his 36 years in the Senate that Joe Biden just hopped on a train and left town to avoid a vote that he knew he was going to lose?" asked Doocy. Psaki had clashed with Doocy far too many times to take the bait. "Welcome back. I think the president's view is that these Texas legislators were making a statement through actions in opposition to efforts in their state to oppose restrictions on people's fundamental rights and their rights to vote in their state."

Doocy then smugly responded, "Maybe it's funny to think about it that way." Psaki interrupted Doccy and told him there was nothing funny about people losing their fundamental right to vote. She also added that there were voter suppression attempts across America. "I don't think anything about this is funny. I think what is important to note though here is that there are 28 states, including Texas, where there are laws in place or in process, to make it harder to vote and it requires bold action, it requires bold voices to speak out against that and make sure people understand their rights." Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said the Texas Democratic legislators who left the state will be arrested when they return home. Republicans in Oregon tried a similar approach to avoid voting on a major climate change bill in 2019.

It's not the first time Psaki has clashed with the Fox News White House correspondent. Last month, Doocy thought he had a "gotcha" question lined up for the White House Press Secretary but only to be fact-checked and left embarrassed. It happened after Major League Baseball had announced it was moving the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver in response to Georgia’s new restrictive voting law, which limits the use of drop boxes for absentee ballots and imposes ID requirements on those who vote by mail, among other restrictions.

“Is the White House concerned that Major League Baseball is moving their All-Star Game to Colorado, where voting regulations are very similar to Georgia?” asked Doocy. His question had been the argument used on multiple right-wing media outlets. “First, let me say, on Colorado. Colorado allows you to register on Election Day, Colorado has voting by mail where they send, to 100% of people in the state who are eligible, applications to vote by mail,” responded Psaki, before adding that 94% of Colorado citizens voted by mail in the 2020 election. She also let him know that Colorado accepts 16 forms of identification, compared to Georgia’s six.

She also hit out at the lies about a fraudulent election which was the foundation of the restrictive voting legislation. “The Georgia legislation is built on a lie. There was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election, Georgia’s top Republican election officials have acknowledged that repeatedly in interviews,” said Psaki. ”And what there was, however, was record-setting turnout, especially by voters of color. So instead, what we’re seeing here, for politicians who didn’t like the outcome, they’re not changing their policies to win more votes, they’re changing the rules to exclude more voters. And we certainly see the circumstances as different,” she added.