House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that President Biden tried to bait Republicans into outbursts during his State of the Union address by making false claims that they want to gut Social Security and Medicare, adding that his GOP colleagues should “not take the bait.”

“The president was trying to goad the members, and the members are passionate about it. But the one thing the president was saying is something that he knew was not true. I just spent an hour with him. I’ve said it many times before: Social Security and Medicare are off the table,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) told “Fox & Friends.”

“He tries to use it for a political ploy. But the one thing we need to be is we need to be smart. He’s trying to play politics with the debt ceiling by not negotiating, by lying about our position,” the GOP leader went on. 

Co-host Steve Doocy raised the incident by saying it appeared that Biden, 80, was “hoping to bait the Republicans into a reaction” by saying some GOPers wanted to “sunset” the social safety net programs.

“It looked like Joe Biden was standing up to the Republicans,” Doocy said, referencing polling that shows independents were “turned off” by the Republican heckling and remarking, “It looked like you were trying to shush your side of the aisle.”