Washington Examiner Senior Writer Joe Concha rebuked former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s political shift as insincere, heavily criticizing her lack of transparency to the public.
Jean-Pierre says in her new book, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines, that she was “enraged and heartbroken” over the treatment former President Joe Biden received from his own party, opting to become an Independent since she didn’t believe she could “stomach” remaining in the Democratic Party.
Concha, however, was not sold on Jean-Pierre’s argument, calling it “insulting” for anyone who is “sane.” He also compared Jean-Pierre to former Vice President Kamala Harris in portraying herself as a “victim.”
“She’s an Independent? Is she going to honestly vote for anybody who is right of center who’s an independent or a Republican? No. Never, of course, because she was the face of this administration and repeatedly told the country that Joe Biden was as sharp as a tack, and she said to the country from that podium at the James S. Brady briefing room that it was hard to keep up with him. Please, I’ve seen Jell-O move faster than Joe Biden,” Concha said on Fox News’s Fox & Friends First.
Concha also rebutted the idea that Biden was treated poorly, saying he “treated the country poorly” when he ran for president in 2020 “when he clearly was losing it.” He added that “no one’s buying” Jean-Pierre’s claim that she was insulted over Biden’s treatment when she was “leading the lie” on Biden’s cognitive ability to serve.
Concha added that Jean-Pierre’s book is looking to appeal to the Biden fanbase, but suggested this fanbase doesn’t exist. He said Biden only became president because people voted against President Donald Trump, “not because they were voting for Joe Biden.”
Jean-Pierre writes in her book that she flew with Biden on Air Force One to the first presidential debate, after which Biden’s performance was widely criticized. Jean-Pierre said Monday that this was a rare trip when “I didn’t really see him until after the debate,” and insisted she “never saw” Biden indicating he “wasn’t [mentally] there.”
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Jean-Pierre’s book also drew criticism from other former Biden officials in June. One official said it’s hard to see her book as “anything but a bizarre cash grab.”
Independent goes on sale Tuesday. A book tour for the release started in New York City on Monday, and future tour stops include Boston, Massachusetts, on Friday; Atlanta, Georgia, on Oct. 30; and Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4.