(Headline USA) The White House this week denied a report about a secret effort to oust press secretary Karine Jean–Pierre, calling it “wildly false,” Fox News reported.
The New York Post reported last Thursday that several top Biden officials, including longtime Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn and White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, recruited prominent Democrats outside the White House to pressure Jean–Pierre to step down.
“The reality is the polar opposite,” deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates claimed in a statement.
“Karine was never approached by anyone with such a message,” he continued. “She spends four hours preparing every day. And neither Jeff nor Anita did any such thing; both have been unflinchingly supportive of her.”
According to the Post, however, both Dunn and Zients were concerned that Jean–Pierre has underperformed. They specifically took issue with her habit of reading prepared answers and cutting off press conferences early, which they said does not help make the case for President Joe Biden’s reelection.
“[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,” a source told the Post.
Bates responded, “Every press secretary uses the binder. Why is she being singled out?”
The Post went on to reveal that Dunn and Zients tried to find a “graceful exit” for Jean-Pierre given how bad the optics would be if they forced out the first black LGBT press secretary.
“There’s a huge diversity issue, and they’re afraid of what folks are going to say,” the source said.
Dunn also responded to the report, telling the Washington Post, “KJP isn’t going anywhere, so this is a ridiculous piece.”
She did not, however, deny the substance of the report.
