White House denies secret plot to oust Karine Jean-Pierre as Biden faces more bad news
The Biden administration is denying there was a secret internal plot to get rid of White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, a scheme first reported Thursday by The New York Post.
Deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates forcefully rejected claims from multiple sources with knowledge of the plans, which included longtime Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn, supported by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, recruiting prominent outside Democrats to urge Jean-Pierre to voluntarily make her exit.
"Not only are these claims wildly false, but the reality is the polar opposite. 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," Bates told The Post.
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According to The Post's sources, Jean-Pierre's bosses were unhappy with her habit of reading prepared answers directly from her binder, which they viewed as falling short of making an adequate case for President Biden as he prepared to launch his re-election campaign.
"Every press secretary uses the binder. Why is she being singled out?" Bates added.
One of the sources told The Post that the effort included having outside people Jean-Pierre knew and trusted convince her it was the right time to move along, and that it would make sense for her career to leave at around the same tenure as previous secretaries — about a year and a half.
The other source told The Post, "Jeff and Anita were trying to find Karine a graceful exit" in an effort to avoid removing her against her will.
"There’s a huge diversity issue, and they’re afraid of what folks are going to say," the source said, adding that although at least one person from outside the administration spoke to Jean-Pierre, that the plan had not yet, and was unlikely to, lead to her departure.
"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."
Both sources went on to tell The Post that the press secretary relied too much on her notes to be able to provide the quick-thinking pushback needed in the role, with one arguing she "doesn't have an understanding of the issues," despite Jean-Pierre thinking that she's "doing an amazing job."
A February report by NBC News detailed a job offer Jean-Pierre received and rejected in December from EMILYs List, a pro-abortion group, and, according to an email shared with The Post, Dunn appeared to have accepted that same month that Jean-Pierre wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
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"KJP isn’t going anywhere, so this is a ridiculous piece," Dunn wrote in the email to a Washington Post reporter regarding a separate piece.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for additional comment.
The White House's denial concerning Jean-Pierre comes as Biden received more bad news about his re-election bid.
A new CNN poll released Sunday found former President Trump holding a continued advantage (49%-43%) in a head-to-head matchup, with that lead growing to nine points (42%-33%) when including independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (16%) and Dr. Cornel West (4%), as well as Green Party candidate Jill Stein (3%).
Additionally, 55% said they saw Trump's presidency as a success, but 61% said they saw Biden's presidency as a failure.