Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reflected on the “shocking” nature of Democratic Party leaders turning against then-President Joe Biden, ultimately pressuring him to step aside from the race.
Now, just over 100 days into President Donald Trump’s second term, the Democratic Party is still grappling with the fallout from the 2024 election. One of the most contentious moments of the race was the intense push from party leaders and influential figures urging Biden to withdraw his candidacy after his disastrous debate performance last June, according to a new report.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University, Jean-Pierre was asked to share insights into the challenges she faced during the three weeks following the debate, leading up to Biden’s decision to step down, as well as whether he should have run for reelection in the first place.
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“He was the President of the United States at the time, he was the leader of the Democratic Party. It was truly his decision to make on what he wanted to do, and I supported that 100%. Whatever it was, I was going to support that 100%,” she responded. “Because he had the right to, as the leader of the Democratic Party coming out of a pretty successful midterm. There was supposed to be a red wave, there wasn’t a red wave.”
The primary challenge during those three weeks, she stated, arose from other factions within the Democratic Party itself.
“I… look, personally, I think what was the toughest thing to see in the three weeks was there was a disconnect for me [in] what was happening with leadership in the Democratic Party and how it was truly, as my former colleague, communications director Ben Labolt said, it was a firing squad,” Jean-Pierre continued.
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“I had never seen anything like it before. I had never seen a party do that in the way that they did, and it was hurtful and sad to see that happening,” the former White House press secretary added. “A firing squad around a person who I believe was a true patriot, a person who I believe did everything that he can for this country. A person who I believe, as I mentioned before, has done more in one term than most presidents had done in two terms, historical things, and I was shocked by what I was seeing.”
When pressed by another panelist, Jean-Pierre confirmed that she was referring to Democratic leaders who had publicly criticized Biden, emphasizing how “shocking” the turn of events was at the time.
“Instead of coming together to really be unified and trying to figure out how do we save our democracy how do we fight back, that’s what I was seeing,” she said. “That’s what we decided to do for three weeks, and, you know, it was truly, truly unfortunate, and I think it hurt us more than I think folks realized, to have done that.”
On Friday, the House Oversight Committee summoned four top Biden White House officials to testify regarding the alleged cover-up of the 46th president’s cognitive impairment.
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Former press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who is writing a book on the “broken” government she worked for, received a summons, as did Biden’s final White House chief of staff, Jeff Zients.
Andrew Bates, Jean-Pierre’s deputy, and Ian Sams, former White House counsel’s office spokesperson, were also called in for questioning.
“They fed these false talking points to progressive allies and the media, who helped perpetuate that President Biden was fit to serve. As part of our aggressive investigation into the cover-up of his cognitive decline and potentially unauthorized executive actions, we must hear from the those who aided and abetted this farce.”
On Tuesday, the panel examined Biden’s former domestic policy advisor, Neera Tanden, who previously worked as the former president’s staff secretary for nearly two years and is one of the only people authorized to use an autopen on official documents.
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Republicans said Tanden claimed she seldom communicated with Biden and would submit memoranda to other top staffers concerning auto-pen choices, only to get instructions in return, raising doubts about who transmitted the president’s views.
