Bidenworld goes scorched earth on Karine Jean-Pierre
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Then-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre with President Biden last October. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Former Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced Tuesday that she's written a book about a "broken" Biden White House and what she sees as the betrayal of the former president by the Democratic Party.
- Many of her former colleagues think Jean-Pierre — the face of the White House for more than two years — was part of the problem, according to interviews with more than two dozen former Biden administration officials.
Driving the news: Jean-Pierre's announcement Wednesday led former Biden aides to tee off on her. Many quietly had fumed for years, believing she was incompetent at her job at the White House podium and more interested in promoting herself than Joe Biden.
- News of her book — "Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines" — and that she was leaving the Democratic Party was the final straw for many people who'd worked with her.
The fighting within Bidenworld is part of larger post-election angst and grievances amid new reporting of how Biden's staff tried to hide his physical and mental decline during his presidency.
- Jean-Pierre was a key part of the effort to conceal Biden's decline, vouching for his fitness and insisting the president, then 81, was "as sharp as ever" even after last June's disastrous debate against Donald Trump.
What they're saying: One former White House official who worked closely with Jean-Pierre told Axios that she "was one of the most ineffectual and unprepared people I've ever worked with. ... She had meltdowns after any interview that asked about a topic not sent over by producers."
- "She didn't know how to manage a team, didn't know how to shape or deliver a message, and often created more problems than she solved," the official said.
- A former Biden communications official threw more wood on the fire: "The hubris of thinking you can position yourself as an outsider when you not only have enjoyed the perks of extreme proximity to power — which ... bestows the name recognition needed to sell books off your name — but have actively wielded it from the biggest pulpit there is, is as breathtaking as it is desperate ... It's difficult to see how this is anything but a bizarre cash grab."
- Another former White House official familiar with the dynamics told Axios: "The amount of time that was spent coddling [Jean-Pierre] and appeasing her was astronomical compared to our attention on actual matters of substance."
A former senior spokesperson in Biden's administration added: "It's hard to believe someone could look at the past year and genuinely think, 'The party left Joe Biden — that's why I'm leaving the Democratic Party.' '"
- A former White House communications official added: "Today Karine lost the only constituency that ever supported her — party line Democrats."
- Jean-Pierre did not respond to requests for comment.
The intrigue: Despite longstanding internal frustration with Jean-Pierre's performance since she took over as press secretary in mid-2022, Biden aides largely had stayed silent because she was seen as untouchable, given her close relationship with Jill Biden's top aide Anthony Bernal.
- During Biden's presidency, Bernal had a hand in hiring many White House aides who were prioritized for their loyalty.
Jean-Pierre also caused internal drama by repeatedly blocking National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby from joining her at the White House podium, even when national security issues were at the forefront of the news.
- A Biden spokesperson declined to comment.
Zoom in: Some former Biden aides said Jean-Pierre's tenure was complicated by her work with a New York-based publicist, Gilda Squire.
- Jean-Pierre was the focus of several magazine profiles and appeared on "The View" in New York. At one point, she wanted to appear on the show once a week.
- Within the White House, there were concerns about Squire being looped in on internal emails regarding Jean-Pierre's profiles and promotional appearances.
- Concerns about Jean-Pierre's self-promotion were even raised with the White House counsel's office because some staffers felt torn between their administration duties and helping Jean-Pierre promote herself, according to a former White House aide familiar with the internal dynamics.
Contacted by Axios in February 2024, Squire asked to go off the record and denied she was working with Jean-Pierre to navigate and boost the press secretary's public profile. As a result, Axios didn't report Squire's involvement at the time.
- Internal White House emails obtained later by Axios, however, show that Squire was copied on emails related to Jean-Pierre's publicity work. The messages included a September 2023 email describing plans for a Vogue magazine profile.
- Asked for comment Wednesday, Squire told Axios: "Karine and I did not decide to engage on a professional level until after she left the White House. You might want to get your facts straight before you accuse someone of being a liar. Please do not ever contact me again."
- Sent a copy of the 2023 email, Squire didn't respond further.
Zoom out: Jean-Pierre's publisher Legacy Lit — a Hachette Book Group imprint — announced that in the book, she will urge Americans to "embrace life as Independents" because the two-party system is broken.
- "In a hard-hitting yet hopeful critique, Jean-Pierre defines what it means to be part of the growing percentage of our fractured electorate that is Independent," the announcement reads.
- Jean-Pierre said in a video shared to Instagram: "We need to stop thinking in boxes and think outside of our boxes and not be so partisan. "
