Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy has a knack for baiting the Biden White House just enough to get them to make complete fools of themselves, and his daily grilling of administration officials over the growing controversy surrounding Joe Biden’s classified documents scandal is just another example.

In the latest round, Doocy questioned Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Friday on the oft-repeated claim from Biden’s defenders, including officials in his administration, that he “self-reported” the documents after the first ones were found back in early November.

As you’ll see from the exchange below, Doocy questions Jean-Pierre twice on this false claim, and the second time around she asks him who on the Biden team told him that Biden self-reported the classified documents.

In turn, Doocy had to remind Jean-Pierre – who was in the room Wednesday at the same time the answer was given – that National Security Council spokesman John Kirby made that very claim:

DOOCY: “We heard from this podium the other day that President Biden self reported the materials. That’s not exactly what happened, is it?”

KJP: “Who did you hear that from!?”

DOOCY: “John Kirby.”

KJP: “Well, I would refer you to the White House Counsel.” pic.twitter.com/aTNjSV5DsX

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 27, 2023

Indeed, if one goes to the transcript, we see that Kirby made that declaration two days ago:

[Reporter]: And usually, what happens to someone in the chain of command if they do leave with a piece of classified material that they’re not supposed to have or that is not secured?

MR. KIRBY: I think if you do it inadvertently or you do it and you realize, you know, you don’t have it secured in a locked bag, you know, you — you self-report, which is exactly what the President did: self-reported.

But you self-report, and you — you make sure that that you get the material back, secured where it belongs, and that you’re transparent about it.

Except Biden did not in fact “self-report,” as former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy explained:

To “self-report” a crime, a person needs to report it to law enforcement authorities. Biden and his aides absolutely did not do that.
[…]
The Biden private attorney who took the lead on the first batch of documents is Patrick Moore. Moore did not report his discovery of highly classified documents retained in an unlawful place to law-enforcement — i.e., to the FBI or the Department of Justice (DOJ). He reported them to the Biden White House.

We do not know who at the White House participated in the deliberations over what to do about the classified documents discovery. What we know is that the White House did not report the discovery to law enforcement. Instead, it reported the discovery to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), an executive agency (i.e., it reports to the president) that is essentially a records repository, not a law enforcement agency.
[…]
Biden did not report his misconduct to law-enforcement or to the public. Furthermore, there is reason to believe he intended for the public never to know. The public learned about Biden’s illegal retention of classified intelligence because CBS News — not Biden — reported it on Jan. 9. Only then did the White House and the president confess that the CBS report was true.

In other words, Kirby lied, and Jean-Pierre was either not paying attention to what he said Wednesday or hoped no one else heard what Kirby proclaimed.

All the way around, the way both Kirby and Jean-Pierre have responded to rounds of questioning from the media on this issue has only served to make the Biden White House look even worse. And to think they’re actually answering on Biden’s behalf because they understand that having him out there fielding questions on the matter, and giving crazy answers like the “Corvette” one he gave two weeks ago, will only get him (and them) in more trouble.

What an absolute cluster. And the only people they can blame this on are themselves.

Related: Karine Jean-Pierre in the Hot Seat After Some White House Reporters Go Rogue