Jake Tapper Defends Fox News' Peter Doocy After Biden's Hot Mic Moment

Jake Tapper stunned Jimmy Kimmel last night when he defended Fox News' Peter Doocy after President Biden called him a "stupid son of a bitch" on a hot mic at a press conference earlier that day.

"I don't think any president should be calling any journalist a stupid asshole," said Tapper, when Kimmel asked for his opinion on the hot mic moment. "And to be fair to Peter Doocy, the question was fairly anodyne."

"Wait a minute," replied a visibly surprised Kimmel. "Fox News says you are on Team Biden and you are the mouthpiece of the Democrats, and yet here you are defending Peter Doocy, who as far as I've been able to tell, is, indeed a dumb son of a bitch!"

"I do not agree with that," said the CNN anchor. "And I would say, standard for decency don't have to do with whether or not you like the people that are being treated poorly. It just has to do with the standard. And yes, I recognize that Peter's channel would probably would never come to my defense like that, but it is what it is."

Tapper concluded by noting that "Biden did call Peter Doocy to apologize" shortly after the press conference. "I'm sure Trump did that," joked Kimmel, to which Tapper added, "He gave out maps to our homes."

Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights at 11:35 PM ET on ABC.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.