Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy seems to pride himself on asking hard-hitting questions of White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
However, on Tuesday, Psaki was the one who asked a question that left Doocy momentarily speechless.
It happened when Doocy asked about the possibility of “tons” of police officers and members of the military quitting to avoid COVID-19 vaccination requirements.
Psaki interrupted by asking where, specifically, this is happening.
“Where are tons of police and military walking off the job?” she asked. (A police union in Massachusetts has made unconfirmed claims about large numbers of officers resigning over vaccine requirements there. Many other police departments have reported staffing shortages, but that issue predates vaccine mandates.)
In response, Doocy quoted Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who has speculated that 5% to 10% of his employees might leave the job if they are forced to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“I mean, is there any concern about that?” Doocy asked.
Psaki replied with a question of her own. “What was the number one cause of death among police officers last year?” she asked. “Do you know?”
Doocy didn’t immediately respond, so Psaki answered her own question.
“COVID-19,” she said. “So that’s something that we’re working to address, and police departments are working to address. If you look at Seattle as an example, which I know has been in some of the reporting, 92% of the police force is vaccinated, as are 93% of firefighters.”
Doocy then claimed his question was about safety.
“All these other problems: terror, murder, robberies, kidnappings.” he said. “Is there any concern that if police forces shrink, or if the size of the ready military force shrinks, that the United States or localities may not be equipped properly?”
Psaki then reminded Doocy that more than 700,000 people have died of COVID in the U.S., and that “it was the number one cause of death among police departments and police officers.”
“It’s something that we should take seriously,” she added. “Departments are trying to save people in their departments, people who work for them. And we support that effort.”
You can see the exchange below:
Many Twitter users were frankly amused by how Psaki left Doocy temporarily silent.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
