Top White House aides launched a failed plan last fall to boot press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre from her position because of poor job performance, sources told New York Post’s Steven Nelson last week.
The plan, reportedly hatched by White House communications chief Anita Dunn in the fall, apparently failed to materialize because Jean-Pierre refused to leave her position, turning down big job opportunities that President Joe Biden’s aides created for her.
“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,” one source told the Post, calling it an “effort to encourage her to move along.”
Those who knew about the plan reportedly included the top officials at the White House, including chief of staff Jeff Zients.
“Jeff and Anita were trying to find Karine a graceful exit” because the two are worried firing her. Jean-Pierre is the first black and first openly gay person to be press secretary.
Jean-Pierre critics reportedly argued that she relies on notes too much to reply to reporters quickly enough to push the administration’s agenda.
“Karine doesn’t have an understanding of the issues and she reads the book [binder] word-for-word,” a source told the Post, noting that matters are made worse because “she thinks she’s doing an amazing job.”
“She doesn’t have a grasp of the issues and doesn’t spend the time to learn,” the person said.
The White House denied the report. But the Post report appears to confirm past reports that “turmoil and toxicity” infest the White House. The “turmoil and toxicity” could hinder the president’s campaign.
Infighting and “tension” rage between Jean-Pierre and the National Security Council’s John Kirby about how much time each is allotted to provide the establishment media with canned public relations remarks during press briefings, Axios reported in January.
US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 21, 2023 (MANDEL NGAN/AFP).
The two team members are forced to work together because Biden “likes it,” the report said.
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Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.