White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replaced her predecessor Jen Psaki in May 2022 and held her final official press briefing on Wednesday.
Karine Jean-Pierre’s two-and-a-half-year stint as White House press secretary was marked by what many saw as a series of embarrassing and even controversial moments.
In May 2022, Jean-Pierre replaced Jen Psaki as press secretary and became the first openly gay, Black woman to serve in the position. Though she was touted as a historical figure, her time as press secretary eventually became more memorable for her clashing with reporters, walking back statements and skirting difficult questions.
On Wednesday, she addressed the press for the final time after more than 300 briefings.
Here are some of the most memorable moments of Jean-Pierre’s time as press secretary:
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF 2024
Before joining the Biden White House, Jean-Pierre claimed on Twitter that former President Donald Trump had stolen the 2016 election and that Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp had stolen his election in 2018.
In Sept. 2022, Fox News’ Peter Doocy pressed the White House spokesperson to explain why “MAGA Republicans” were facing so much criticism for their claims that the 2020 election was stolen when she and other Democrats had cast doubt on other elections.
“You tweeted in 2016 that Trump stole an election,” Doocy began.
“Oh, I knew this was coming,” Jean-Pierre said, cutting him off. “I was waiting, Peter, for when you were going to ask me that question.”
“Well, here we go,” Doocy responded. “You tweeted Trump stole an election. You tweeted Brian Kemp stole an election. If denying election results is extreme now, why wasn’t it then?”
“Let’s be really clear: That comparison you just made is ridiculous,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that she was speaking specifically about voting rights at the time.
“Governor Kemp won the election in Georgia. I have been clear about that,” she continued. “I have said President Trump won the election in 2016, and I have been clear about that. What we are talking about right now is, let’s not forget, what happened on Jan. 6th, 2021. We saw an insurrection, a mob, that was incited by the person who occupied [the White House]. … It was an attack on our democracy.”
Jean-Pierre raised eyebrows in October 2022 by declaring that “voter suppression” and “high turnout” could take place at the same time when asked about the midterm election turnout in Georgia. She made the comments during a press briefing when a reporter asked her about Biden’s suggestion that Georgia’s voting laws were akin to “Jim Crow 2.0,” given that the state saw record early voting turnout.
“And speaking generally, of course, more broadly, of course, high turnout and voter suppression can take place at the same time,” Jean-Pierre said. “They don’t have to be, one doesn’t have to happen on its own. They could be happening at the same time.”
In June 2023, the House Ways and Means Committee released testimony from IRS whistleblowers who alleged misconduct in the handling of the tax probe investigating Biden’s son Hunter. Among the findings was an alleged WhatsApp text message Hunter Biden sent to a Chinese business associate using his father as part of what Republicans said was an illicit scheme.
Reporters from CNN, New York Times, New York Post, Newsmax and NBC News all pressed Jean-Pierre on these allegations, only for the press secretary to refuse to answer.
“I’m just not going to get into family discussion, personal family discussion,” Jean-Pierre initially responded. “As you know, Hunter’s his son. I’m just not going to get into that.”
After repeated questions about the whistleblowers’ testimonies, Jean-Pierre appeared even more agitated towards New York Post correspondent Steven Nelson.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S MOST MEMORABLE CLASHES WITH REPORTERS THROUGHOUT 2023
“Steven, Steven, I just answered the question,” she sternly replied. “It’s not up to you how I answer the question. I just answered the question by telling you my colleagues at the White House counsel have dealt with this, and I would refer you to them.”
Jean-Pierre also stated that she was not planning on discussing the matter with the president.
In June, about one month before Biden stepped down from the race, several videos went viral showing the president wandering around aimlessly and looking frail, reigniting concerns over his age.
In response to these questions, Jean-Pierre referred to them as “a rash of videos that have been edited to make the president appear especially frail or mentally confused,” and labeled them “cheap fakes,” a phrase she attributed to the Washington Post, “pushing misinformation, disinformation.”
“It tells you everything that we need to know about how desperate Republicans are here,” Jean-Pierre said. “And instead of talking about the president’s performance in office, and what I mean by that is his legislative wins, what he’s been able to do for the American people across the country, we’re seeing these deepfakes, these manipulated videos. And it is, again, done in bad faith.”
With just weeks to go in his presidency, Biden surprised both political parties by pardoning his son after emphatically insisting that he wouldn’t.
Jean-Pierre had repeatedly said at the podium that a pardon was not on the table, even as a conviction was becoming more and more likely. A few days after Hunter Biden’s pardon in December, she was confronted about her comments.
“You were asked about the president pardoning his son, and you said, ‘It’s a no. It will be a no. It’s a no,'” AP White House correspondent Zeke Miller said, recounting Jean-Pierre’s statements.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“When you look at the statement, it’s pretty comprehensive,” Jean-Pierre said, referring to Biden’s full statement justifying the pardon, adding that the “circumstances have changed.”
Miller pushed back on this answer, reminding her of her promises when taking the job as press secretary.
“In your first briefing here as press secretary, you committed to speaking ‘in a transparent way, in a truthful way, and in an honest way,'” Miller told Jean-Pierre.
