NYP: Biden’s aids wanted to kick out White House press secretary Jean-Pierre
Aides to US President Joe Biden last autumn were preparing a “coup” in the White House to remove his administration’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre from her post, writes the tabloid New York Post, citing sources.
According to the publication, Jean-Pierre became the first black White House press secretary with a non-traditional sexual orientation, and she developed an “annoying” habit of reading out prepared answers from a notebook in response to journalists’ questions at briefings.
According to the NYP, Biden’s top advisers secretly devised a plan to replace Jean-Pierre, and to do so, they tapped people from outside the party. A source told the publication that Anita Dunn, the wife of Biden’s personal lawyer Bob Bauer, whom the newspaper describes as the “de facto head” of the White House communications office, contacted prominent Democratic Party officials to convince Jean-Pierre that “it was time to move on.”
The NYP’s interlocutor said White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients was aware of the “spying” plan and was supportive of replacing the current press secretary. Another source told the newspaper that Dunn and Zients tried to find a “graceful way out” for Karyn to avoid the prospect of being fired against her will.
By December, however, Dunn appeared to recognise that the current spokeswoman was “securely entrenched” in her position, the paper said.
According to the publication’s interlocutors, the disclosure of the preparations for the resulting failed “coup” is likely to create an awkward situation in the US administration, but is unlikely to lead to the departure of Jean-Pierre, who wants to stay on “no matter what”.
“From the moment she got the job, she’s been pretty consistent in telling people that she’s going to stay until after the election,” they pointed out.
However, problems with her professional suitability remain, the newspaper’s sources said: Jean-Pierre relies too much on her notes during briefings in which she is supposed to effectively defend Biden’s policies.
“‘Karine has no understanding of the issues, and she reads the notes word for word <…> She doesn’t understand the issues and she doesn’t research them,’ the NYP source told the paper, pointing out that Jean-Pierre herself thinks she’s ‘doing a terrific job,’ which only exacerbates the situation.”
At the same time, White House spokesman Andrew Bates, in comments to the publication, called false information about the attempt to fire Jean-Pierre, adding that both Dunn and Zients “unwaveringly support her.”