Biden spokeswoman struggles to defend personal tweets claiming 2016, 2018 elections 'stolen'

After criticizing proponents of former President Donald Trump's narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struggled to defend her own past tweets making similar claims about elections in 2016 and 2018.

Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre account for her own comments questioning the legitimacy of Trump's 2016 victory and that of Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018.

"You tweeted Trump stole an election. You tweeted Brian Kemp stolen an election" Doocy said, before Jean-Pierre interrupted. Doocy, nonetheless, continued. "If denying election results is extreme now..."

The press secretary again interrupted. "So let's be really clear. That comparison that you made is just ridiculous."

Jean-Pierre did acknowledge her past comments, saying "I was talking specifically at that time of what was happening with voting rights and what was in danger of voting rights. That's what I was speaking to at the time."

In December 2016, a month after Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton, Jean-Pierre tweeted: " “Stolen emails, stolen drone, stolen election …..welcome to the world of #unpresidented Trump.”

Two years later she made a similar claim about Kemp's victory in Georgia. "Reminder: Brian Kemp stole the gubernatorial election form Georgians and Stacey Abrams."

In 2018, Kemp narrowly defeated then-Democratic rising Stacey Abrams after a protracted ballot counting process. Abrams refused to concede the election and pushed the narrative that voter suppression cost her the race. She was also a prominent critic of a subsequent election integrity bill that Kemp signed into law following the voter fraud allegations of the 2020 election.

The press-secretary's defense this week was mocked by conservatives on social media. "She’s not bright," conservative activist Ned Ryun tweeted. "You know this question is coming; it’s inevitable. And this is her answer??"

Jean-Pierre's difficulty answering questions about her own tweets come after President Joe Biden gave a widely panned speech slamming conservatives who question the 2020 election outcome or the rules under which it was run. 

"I will not stand by and watch — I will not — the will of the American people be overturned by wild conspiracy theories and baseless, evidence-free claims of fraud," Biden declared. "I will not stand by and watch elections in this country stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost,"