US Oil and Gas Association pres calls Jean-Pierre 'Baghdad Barbie' for lying about gas price policy

"There's a vast disconnect between what they say in those White House press briefings about energy and what the reality actually is," Stewart said.

By Charlotte Hazard

Published: September 7, 2023 5:03pm

President of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association Tim Stewart referred to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as "Baghdad Barbie" for saying that the Biden administration is taking steps to lower gas prices.

"She's just sort of a Baghdad Barbie, isn't she?" Stewart said on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast. "So I think our response is, 'Yeah. You show us that list of the actions you're taking to lower gas prices, and we'll show you our list of things that you have taken to increase gasoline prices.'"

Two of the major criticisms of the Biden administration have been high inflation and high gas prices, with gas being as much as $5.35 in states like California according to AAA.

Stewart said that an example of the administration's policies increasing gas prices was canceling the oil and gas leases in a federal wildlife refuge in Alaska.

"The irony was when she said that about lowering gas prices, the Department of Interior was in turn canceling all of those Alaska oil and gas leases," Stewart said. "There's a vast disconnect between what they say in those White House press briefings about energy and what the reality actually is."

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) received seven leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the Trump administration before the inauguration of President Joe Biden, who ran on protecting wildlife. The new commander-in-chief placed those leases on hold shortly after taking office in January 2021.

The cancellation is certain to anger the energy industry, which is producing record output in America while dealing with Saudi and Russian cutbacks that are driving up gas prices.

"This arbitrary cancellation breaks a series of legal contracts between the federal government and the industry," Stewart said. "The administration is gonna get sued, and they're likely going to lose on this. But the bigger losers in all this, frankly, are the American people."