It seems the novelty of having the nation’s first black, openly gay White House press secretary has worn off.
This past fall, President Biden’s top aides called in prominent outside Democrats to encourage Karine Jean-Pierre to abandon the podium and “move along,” sources told the New York Post.
Jean-Pierre “had developed the exasperating habit of reading canned answers directly from a binder to reporters at her regular briefings — offering what her superiors viewed as a less-than-compelling pitch for the 81-year-old Biden as he readied his re-election campaign,” according to The Post.
KJP says Biden’s ‘cannibals’ story was a ‘symbolic’ moment: ‘We should not make jokes’ https://t.co/Tb1OuAFKG3 via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) April 20, 2024
Enter the wife of Biden personal attorney Bob Bauer, “de facto White House communications chief Anita Dunn,” who “told colleagues she had decided to call in prominent Democrats to explain to Jean-Pierre, 49, that the time was ripe to move on,” the outlet reports.
“There were a number of people she asked to engage Karine,” one source who reportedly got news of the planned coup directly from Dunn said.
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients was aware of the scheme to push Jean-Pierre out, according the source. It was a move he supported.
“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,” the source said. It was an “effort to encourage her to move along.”
Jean-Pierre “had been in the job for a year and a half at that point, which is a pretty standard tenure for a press secretary in what is admittedly a very demanding job [and] Jeff and Anita [tried] to have folks that she would listen to and trust talk to her about why it might be wise to do that,” the source said.
Because dragging her away from the podium would have looked bad, “Jeff and Anita were trying to find Karine a graceful exit,” a second source said.
“There’s a huge diversity issue and they’re afraid of what folks are going to say,” the second source added.
According to the first source, things might get awkward in the workplace now that Dunn’s plan has been revealed, but Jean-Pierre isn’t likely to leave.
“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 source said. “I think Karine has decided to stay come hell or high water and that’s that.”
Which is a problem for the Biden campaign. With her inability to depart from her big book of everything, Jean-Pierre lacks the ability “to provide the pushback and quick-thinking repartee needed to effectively champion Biden’s cause,” both sources said, according to The Post.
Making things worse, the second source said, is the fact that Jean-Pierre “thinks she’s doing an amazing job.”
“Karine doesn’t have an understanding of the issues and she reads the book [binder] word-for-word,” the second source said. “She doesn’t have a grasp of the issues and doesn’t spend the time to learn.”
Clear as mud: KJP and John Kirby’s stories don’t match up https://t.co/IbrjF52l5R via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) March 26, 2024
Jean-Pierre’s predecessor, Jen Psaki, who left the job for MSNBC after nearly 16 months, handled things better.
“These issues are not second nature to people. Israel and Gaza is a perfect example. It’s very nuanced,” the source said. “Jen would have calls with people to feel well-versed enough to go to the briefing.”
“There’s an enormous amount of work that goes into getting ready,” the first source noted, “and consistently she does not put in that level of work.”
Clueless KJP says the quiet part out loud in praise of MSNBC https://t.co/MXLaSkDA99 via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) March 7, 2024
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates called the sources’ claims “wildly false.”
“Not only are these claims wildly false, but the reality is the polar opposite,” Bates told The Post. “Karine was never approached by anyone with such a message. She spends four hours preparing every day. And neither Jeff nor Anita did any such thing; both have been unflinchingly supportive of her.”
In a Thursday statement to The Post, Zients echoed Bates’ support for the press sec.
“The President and everyone in the White House deeply values Karine — she is an incredibly talented communicator and trusted advisor who keeps a cool head in any crisis and always has your back,” the chief of staff said. “We are lucky to have her on the core team advancing the President’s historic agenda every day.”
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Author: Melissa Fine
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