According to a report in the New York Post, some within the Biden White House tried but failed to oust White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, known mainly for her frequent spats with Fox News Channel’s White House Correspondent, Peter Doocy, and her frequent unwillingness to directly answer question from the press pool.
The New York Post reports that KJP, who was the “first black and first openly gay person to hold the position” when she became the White House Press Secretary in May of 2022, after Jen Psakli left, was encouraged to leave by some in the administration who told her that “the time was ripe to move on” from the job.
Apparently, the main reason why Team Biden members were so ready to try to push out KJP is that she “developed the exasperating habit of reading canned answers directly from a binder to reporters” and that those obviously canned, often less than helpful answers were “viewed as a less-than-compelling pitch for the 81-year-old Biden.”
According to the New York Post, it was Anita Dunn, the wife of President Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, who tried to usher KJP out of the door, but others joined in as well, just as White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients.
Speaking to the NYP, one source said, “Jeff and Anita were trying to find Karine a graceful exit” because they and others thought she needed to go, but the optics of forcing her to leave would be horrible for the administration. Explaining why, the source added, “There’s a huge diversity issue and they’re afraid of what folks are going to say.”
That source also explained to the NYP why KJP is such an issue, saying, “Karine doesn’t have an understanding of the issues and she reads the book [binder] word-for-word.” The source added that KJP “thinks she’s doing an amazing job,” which makes the situation even worse, as she doesn’t improve. “She doesn’t have a grasp of the issues and doesn’t spend the time to learn,” the source added.
Explaining why that’s such a problem and what a competent press secretary would do, the source said, “These issues are not second nature to people. Israel and Gaza is a perfect example. It’s very nuanced. Jen would have calls with people to feel well-versed enough to go to the briefing.”
Another source, speaking about what they called an “effort to encourage her to move along” said, “There was an effort to have some outside folks who Karine knows and trusts talk to her about why leaving last fall would have made a lot of sense for her and her career.” That source added that “Jeff and Anita [tried] to have folks that she would listen to and trust talk to her about why it might be wise” to voluntarily move along and leave the administration.
That source went on to tell the NYP that KJP dug in her heels and said she will stay at least through the election, and though the report might cause awkwardness, she will likely stay in the role. “She has been pretty consistent in telling people from the minute she got the job that she was going to stay through the election,” the NYP reported the source said.
Watch KJP complain about how hard her job is here:
Featured image credit: By The White House – P20210730ES-0261, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109883877
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