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CHICAGO – One of the authors of the new bombshell Joe Biden book pulled back the curtain Thursday on how White House staffers truly felt about former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
During their book tour in Chicago, “Original Sin” authors Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper were asked about the announcement of Jean-Pierre’s new book promising to shed light on the “broken White House” she worked in and that she left the Democratic Party to become an independent.
“Someone just texted me before I got on stage, a former Biden person, which is, ‘It is quite the ballet move to say that you’re leaving the Democratic Party because they were disloyal to Joe Biden.’ But that is what she’s saying,” Thompson told the Windy City audience Thursday at The Vic Theatre.
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Thompson noted that despite “mass bad reviews” within the Biden administration of Jean-Pierre’s job performance as White House press secretary, she was seen as “untouchable” due to her allyship with top Jill Biden aide Anthony Bernal.
“I think what’s really provoking anger from former Biden people… there was mass frustration on how she went about the job, felt that she was not good at it, was not aware she was not good at it, she did not try hard to get better at it. And there’s more focus on elevating her own profile than not,” Thompson said.
“And now for her to then go out after the Democratic Party elevated her to the top spokesperson job in the country and then for her to then try to sell books by leaving the party, they say that simmering resentment just exploded instantly,” the Axios reporter added.
Tapper speculated that there would have been less “scorn” aimed at Jean-Pierre if she didn’t announce she had become an independent, something the CNN anchor made little sense to him.
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The event moderator, NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik, asked Tapper and Thompson why former Biden staffers by and large “aren’t using their names” as they criticize Jean-Pierre.
“I totally wonder that too,” Tapper reacted. “Because, like, what are you afraid of?”
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Thompson responded by insisting many of them don’t want to speak publicly because they have since landed new jobs and don’t want their employers to be associated with the mudslinging.
“I’d also say that the Biden culture was to punish and try to destroy people who spoke out,” Thompson said. “And yes, they don’t have power anymore, but they are watching very closely. I think some people still fear retaliation.”
Tapper added that since Jean-Pierre was a trailblazer” as the first Black woman and LGBTQ press secretary, that was another reason why her former colleagues aren’t speaking out.
Both authors took turns scrutinizing Jean-Pierre’s credibility following her loyal defense of Biden before and after his disastrous debate performance.
Tapper recalled a 2023 private fundraiser Biden attended in which he didn’t have a teleprompter and how he told donors his canned remarks about how the events of Charlottesville inspired his presidential run in 2020 twice in the span of a few minutes, and how at the following press briefing, Jean-Pierre told reporters, “Well, that’s how strongly he feels about that moment.”
“In her defense, she rarely saw him,” Tapper quipped.
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