The US President Joe Biden has called Fox News reporter Peter Doocy to 'clear the air' after he was heard calling the journalist a 'stupid son of a b**ch' on a hot mic following an event at the White House on Monday.
The president made the comment at the tail end of an event meant to publicize his efforts to address supply-chain issues and tackle inflation.
When he finished his prepared remarks, several reporters yelled out questions to the president – who was seated across the long East Room of the White House.
He was caught calling Doocy a 'stupid son of a b**ch' on a hot mic after he asked a question about inflation Monday.
On Monday night, Doocy appeared on Sean Hannity's program to explain that he had since heard directly from the president who had called his cellphone.
Doocy said that initially, he did not hear the president's insult.
'My reaction was delayed because as you can see the Biden staff were ushering us out. They were telling us thank you, time to go. It wasn't until we went to the basement and then outside and then back to the press room that somebody said "Hey, did you hear with the president said about you?"
I said no, "What did he say?",
"He called you a stupid sob."
And I said "I did not hear that", and I opened up my phone and... he did!' Doocy explained.
The 34-year-old White House Correspondent then told how the president reached out to him around one hour later.
'After years of clips of the president and I kind of mixing it up on the campaign trail and during the transition here at The White House, within about an hour of that exchange, he called my cell phone and he just said "It is nothing personal, pal."
'And we went back and forth and we were talking about moving forward and I made sure to tell him that I'm always going to try to ask something different than what everybody else is asking.
'And he said, "You've got to."
'And that is the quote from the president, so I will keep doing it.
Asked by anchor Sean Hannity is Biden apologized, Doocy explained that he 'cleared the air'.
'He cleared the air. And I appreciate it. We had a nice call,' Doocy recounted.
But Hannity wasn't satisfied: 'To me that is not an answer. Did he apologize? That doesn't sound like an apology,' said Hannity, laughing.
'He said, "It is nothing personal, pal", and I told him I appreciated him reaching out,' Doocy elaborated.
'Hey, Sean, the world is on the brink of like World War III right now. With all the stuff going on. I appreciate that the president took a couple minutes out as evening he was still the desk to give me a call and clear the air. But I don't need anybody to apologize to me. He can call me whatever he wants as long as it gets him talking,' Doocy continued.
'The president said 'Nothing personal pal'. It's enough! We can move forward,' -Daily Mail
