Karine Jean-Pierre, Joe Biden’s Ex–Press Secretary, Urges Democrats to Ditch the Democratic Party

Karine Jean-Pierre, Joe Biden’s former press secretary, has used her forthcoming memoir to urge Democrats to ditch the party and become independents, a move she personally made sometime after leaving the White House. And a number of ex-administration staffers are not taking it well!

In the wake of the news surrounding Jean-Pierre’s defection, and her claims about the Democratic Party in Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines, more than two dozen former Biden administration officials took to Axios to gripe about the ex–press secretary. One former White House official raged that Jean-Pierre is positioning herself “as an outsider when [she] not only…enjoyed the perks of extreme proximity to power” and “the name recognition needed to sell books off your name,” saying, “It’s difficult to see how this is anything but a bizarre cash grab.” Another told the outlet that Jean-Pierre was “one of the most ineffectual and unprepared people I’ve ever worked with,” claiming, “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.” Yet another claimed, “The amount of time that was spent coddling [Jean-Pierre] and appeasing her was astronomical compared to our attention on actual matters of substance.” Jean-Pierre did not respond to Axios’s requests for comment. Jean-Pierre did not immediately respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.

Last February at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, Jean-Pierre said that the “toughest thing“ to witness in the three weeks between Biden’s disastrous debate performance and his announcement that he was dropping out of the race was the Democratic “firing squad.” “I had never seen a party do that in the way that they did, and it was hurtful and sad to see that happening—a firing squad around a person who I believed was a true patriot,” she said.

In a press release announcing her book, which will be published in October, Jean-Pierre wrote: “Until January 20, I was responsible for speaking on behalf of the President of the United States. At noon on that day, I became a private citizen who, like all Americans and many of our allies around the world, had to contend with what was to come next for our country. I determined that the danger we face as a country requires freeing ourselves of boxes. We need to be willing to exercise the ability to think creatively and plan strategically. We need to be clear-eyed and questioning, rather than blindly loyal and obedient as we may have been in the past.” Jean-Pierre does not appear to have commented on the criticism from her former colleagues, but it’s safe to say she may not be appearing at Biden staffer reunions any time soon.

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