Doocy: Why Would Big Oil Listen to a President Who Vowed to 'End Fossil Fuel'? (October 19, 2022)

Fox News’ Peter Doocy put the Biden White House’s gas-price pitch to the test three weeks before the 2022 midterms. After press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called on oil companies to pass their savings on at the pump, Doocy asked: “What makes you think that they are going to listen to an administration that is ultimately trying to put them out of business?” [1]

The video above shows the start of that Oct. 19, 2022, exchange. Quotes are from the official briefing transcript published by The American Presidency Project [1]. In the same turn, Doocy also asked whether President Biden agreed with Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, who had tied abortion to inflation worries on national television that morning [1][4].

”Trying to Put Them Out of Business”

Jean-Pierre had opened the briefing by crediting the president for falling gas prices. She pointed to a chart showing industry profit margins adding more than 60 cents to the average gallon of gas, and said the president was “also calling on oil and gas companies to pass on their savings to consumers at the pump,” Fox News reported [2].

Doocy wasn’t buying it.

“How — how is the administration trying to put them out of business?” Jean-Pierre asked.

“Well, they produce fossil fuels, and this President says he wants to end fossil fuel,” Doocy replied [1].

Where “End Fossil Fuel” Came From

Doocy was quoting Biden’s own campaign promise. At a New Hampshire campaign stop in September 2019, a climate activist asked how voters could trust him while he attended fundraisers with fossil fuel executives. “Kiddo, I want you to just take a look,” Biden said. “You don’t have to agree, but I want you to look in my eyes. I guarantee you, I guarantee you we’re going to end fossil fuel and I am not going to cooperate with them. Before 2050, God willing” [3].

He had not dropped the idea as president. Less than three weeks after this briefing, Biden told a heckler at a New York rally, “No more drilling. There is no more drilling”.

Jean-Pierre’s Answer

Jean-Pierre answered with production numbers. “So look, I — you kind of asked me this question yesterday,” she said. “U.S. oil production is up and on track to reach a record high next year” [1].

“And so, in fact, the United States has produced more oil in President Biden’s first year than under Trump’s administration’s first year,” she continued. “But at the same time, oil companies are raking in record profits while more than 9,000 approved drilling permits remain untapped by the oil industry” [1].

“There is no shortage of opportunity or incentive for all companies to ramp up production,” she said. “This is something that they can actually do. It is available to them. They can do this. And also, they’re getting the profits” [1].

A version of this exchange that spread on social media in 2024 was edited to make it look as if she ended the briefing instead of answering. PolitiFact found the full video and transcript show her answering Doocy’s question [7].

The Record

Jean-Pierre’s numbers hold up better than the White House’s permit claim did.

First-year production: The Energy Information Administration’s annual figures show U.S. crude output averaged 11.32 million barrels a day in 2021, Biden’s first year, against 9.37 million in 2017, Trump’s first year [5].
The record: Output hit 12.97 million barrels a day in 2023, a record, as she predicted [5].
The 9,000 permits: PolitiFact rated Biden’s version of the claim Mostly True in March 2022, based on Bureau of Land Management data showing 9,173 approved and available permits at the end of 2021 [6]. But in February 2023, the bureau cut its count of approved but unused permits from about 9,000 to fewer than 6,700, citing “a reporting discrepancy resulting from a transition to a new database in mid-2020.” Fox News found the White House had cited the 9,000 figure at least 20 times in 2022 [8].
The industry’s view: “They use the claim about 9,000 permits to beat up the industry and deflect for their failure to efficiently process permits,” Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance told Fox News. “Now it turns out the numbers were off by thousands” [8].

”Does President Biden Agree?”

Doocy then moved to Georgia. “In Georgia, the President’s endorsed candidate for governor, Stacey Abrams, is suggesting that one may — one way to mitigate the effects of inflation is to get an abortion. Does President Biden agree?” [1]

“I did not see her comments on this, so I don’t know the context of this,” Jean-Pierre said. “Again, I want to be careful because this is a political debate, and it — it’s related to a midterm, an election. So I — this is — I’m not going to comment on that” [1].

Abrams had made the remarks that morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” when asked about voters’ worries over prices. “But let’s be clear: Having children is why you’re worried about your price for gas. It’s why you’re concerned about how much food costs,” she said. “You can’t divorce being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy from the economic realities of having a child” [4].

The backlash was swift. “Despicable. I can’t believe this needs to be said, but ending a human life is not the solution for inflation,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote [4]. Conservatives online called the comments “EVIL” and “positively ghoulish,” Fox News reported [9]. Consumer prices were up 8.2% from a year earlier at the time [4].

What Happened Next

Abrams lost. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp beat her for the second time in four years. “I am doing the responsible thing, I am suspending my campaign for governor,” Abrams told supporters on election night [10].

Production kept climbing. U.S. crude output rose to 13.27 million barrels a day in 2024 and 13.66 million in 2025, according to the Energy Information Administration [5].

The same briefing produced another slip. Jean-Pierre also described the administration’s plan to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at “$70 per gallon,” a price meant to be per barrel. HYGO News covers that exchange, and more than a dozen other statements of hers the record contradicted, on its Karine Jean-Pierre record page.