Latest news with #Biden2024
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Was this the Shadow President? Jill Biden's mysterious scandal-ridden chief of staff, who White House insiders say was REALLY pulling the levers of power
Late in the evening on June 27, 2024, an enfeebled Joe Biden shuffled through a crowded Atlanta Waffle House, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, shaking the hands of well-wishers who watched him debate Donald Trump. Biden's disastrous debate performance would lead to the abrupt end of his re-election campaign and start a cascade of recriminations that would call his administration and public legacy into question.
The Independent
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Biden's frailty has Democrats scrambling to rebrand - or jump ship like Karine Jean-Pierre
Joe Biden's former allies are running for the hills. Questions about the former president's mental faculties took on a new urgency last month thanks to the artificial drip-drip of revelations leaked to outlets ahead of the release of Original Sin, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's book about the ill-fated Biden re-election bid. Now, the Trump administration and GOP Congress are pushing the narrative along with investigations into the use of an 'autopen' by the former president when signing official documents — a move Donald Trump has baselessly alleged could mean that some shadowy figure was really running the show for four years. The Democratic Party is in the wilderness, electorally speaking, and undergoing a real internal reckoning over the mismanaged 2024 re-election campaign of Joe Biden and the final stretch sprint that was Kamala Harris 's own bid for the top job. No one is more lost in this reshuffle than the members of Bidenworld, who found themselves jobless and loathed by a certain segment of the party after last year. Facing the clear prospect of being blacklisted by future Democratic campaigns and causes, some are rebranding themselves. Others are cutting ties altogether. Wednesday arrived in Washington with the news that Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden's White House press secretary for four years, was in the latter group. Hawking a new book titled Independent (no relation!), Jean-Pierre announced through representatives that she is leaving the party. The book's description labels the Biden White House 'broken' and was met with skepticism from journalists, who questioned how 'outside the party lines' the president's former press secretary could organically be. The news also enraged Democrats with ties to the former administration, according to Politico, who called it a 'grift' and mostly held to fuming in group chats. Others in this category have dropped off the face of the (political) Earth: Jen O'Malley Dillon, Harris's former campaign chair, hasn't made a public comment since appearing on a Pod Save America interview in the immediate aftermath of the election. Same with ex-campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. Several other top and mid-level Harris and Biden campaign officials have either sunk into relative obscurity or, such as was the case with former Biden White House spokesman Andrew Bates, struck out on their own. That's to say nothing, of course, of Harris herself. The former vice president continues to be virtually invisible as she reportedly weighs a run for governor of her home state (where she hasn't lived for four years), against what would likely be a field crowded with other Democrats. Doing so would expose her to tough questions about her former running mate. She has yet to pull the trigger, with that likely being a major reason why. There's one clear reason for this: Joe Biden's continued inability to refute any of the concerns about his age and ability to make a case for himself. It seemed like the former president's fade into obscurity began the day he ceded the presidential position on the re-election ticket to Harris; his most prominent moment in the weeks following was his pardon of Hunter, his son, in December. In a half-hearted effort to head off the worst of the Original Sin blowback, the former president appeared — alongside the former first lady — on The View, a comparatively friendly interview, before the book's release. It did not go well. A whispery ex-president's sentences were finished for him, and there was little sign of the fiery scrapper from Scranton whose antics were once the subject of memes and TV references, not derision. Neither the GOP nor a scandal-hungry Capitol press corps is eager to let this story die. Joe Biden seems wholly unable to kill it. The only question now is how long the stink of the last year remains on those affected, and how widespread it really is. In the end, the former president's re-election bid could end up irreversibly tarring a whole segment of Democratic operatives and even a few of the party's (formerly) rising stars.
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Karine Jean-Pierre writes book on ‘broken' Biden White House
Weeks after the release of a best-selling book detailing Democratic concerns in 2024 about President Joe Biden's ability to serve a second term, his former press secretary said she has written a book that will detail working in a 'broken White House' and her decision to leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Democrats roast ex-Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre's 'laughable' attempt to exit her own party
Stunned Democratic operatives retreated into group chats to vent at Karine Jean-Pierre 's shock decision to snag a book deal with apparent plans to torch those who sought to push Biden to end his reelection bid. The stunning announcement by Jean-Pierre's publisher about her forthcoming tome, Independent, resurfaced complaints about her own capabilities and officials who insulated the former president from criticism that could have helped right the ship. 'I laughed reading her book announcement that claims she 'presents clear arguments and provocative evidence' when our party failed to make a compelling argument for Democrats with her as one of our most visible messenger for three years,' one steaming former Biden administration official told 'She lost whatever media cachet she had after the White House, and The View isn't taking her call anymore so she has to resort to a selfish stunt to sell books and get any attention,' said the former official. That last comment was a reference to Jean-Pierre's decision to go on ABC's 'The View' while serving as Biden's White House press secretary, in a move some took as a bid to line up a post-White House gig for herself on the program. Another Democrat, former Commerce Department spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki told Politico: 'The only reason we stand a chance to reduce the harm inflicted is the Democratic Party did the right thing here. It's completely nuts to be more upset that the Party didn't prioritize Joe Biden's ego and keep him on the ticket than to thank god we averted complete and total disaster.' Many of those urging Biden to get out after his debate disaster argued it was the only way to avoid an electoral wipeout. As it turned out, Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in at the 11th Hour and lost to Donald Trump anyway. Most surprising to many is that Jean-Pierre announced she is leaving the Democratic Party, after a long career as an operative, at a time when Democrats are soul-searching to try to find a way to combat Donald Trump. Her new book, titled Independent, has a cover featuring shattered glass, and a PR release describes its substance as 'a look inside a broken White House, outside the party lines.' Her publisher Hachette describes an 'urgent, timely analysis' and urges Americans to 'vote their values and maintain individuality within party lines.' One operative called it 'the most grift-y thing I've seen in a long time, and that's saying something in Washington.' 'A lot of group chats were revived today,' posted former White House official Symone Sanders-Townsend, a former advisor to VP Kamala Harris, on X, adding a smiling / crying emoji. 'Counting 13 on my end,' chimed in former Biden State Department spokesman Vedant Patel. 'Lol,' wrote former White House assistant press secretary Jeremy Edwads, reposting an article about Jean-Pierre penning the book and leaving the party. Former officials contacted by said they didn't know what kind of advance Jean-Pierre was coming in, after failing to land a high-profile TV gig as did her predecessor Jen Psaki, now an MSNBC host. 'Probably best to purge the party of our most delusional and self-serving personalities,' the former official added. The slack-jawed responses came after news broke that Jean-Pierre, who spent years defending Biden from the White House podium on both substance and questions about his age, health, and mental fitness was writing the book. It comes as her former boss has been hit by a round of tough press coverage with the release of Axios reporter Alex Thompson and CNN anchor Jake Tapper's new book, 'Original Sin,' which rakes the Biden White House for covering up signs of his decline. 'In a country obsessed with blind loyalty to a two-party democratic system, Karine Jean-Pierre, former White House press secretary to the Biden-Harris administration, shares why Americans must step beyond party lines to embrace life as Independents,' according to an online release for the book. 'Jean-Pierre didn't come to her decision to be an Independent lightly,' it says – indicating she has leaving the party, after working in the Biden administration. She worked as a political director for Obama. She also worked for liberal outside group MoveOn. Jean-Pierre didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on her new project. The write-up for her forthcoming book indicates she'll take on people within the party who tried to force Biden to end his reelection campaign after his debate disaster. 'She takes us through the three weeks that led to Biden's abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision,' according to the release. It calls it a 'hard-hitting yet hopeful critique.' The tome runs 256 pages, and goes on sale October 21. Although she has been largely quiet since Biden left office following former Vice President Kamala Harris's defeat, Jean-Pierre referenced some of the scores she plans to settle during an interview in February at the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. She said the 'toughest thing to see' was a 'firing squad' during the weeks after Biden's debate, when a series of party stalwarts pushed him to get out of the race, arguing he couldn't defeat Donald Trump with his lousy approval ratings. 'I had never seen anything like it before,' she intoned. 'I had never seen a party do that in the way that they did. And it was hurtful and sad to see that happening – a firing squad around a person who I believe was a true patriot.' Harris' loss to Trump in all seven heavily contested battleground states has led to a round of soul-searching among Democrats while Trump seeks to transform the country and takes on institutions from the Ivy League to the legal establishment to arts institutions like the Kennedy Center. Prominent figures inside and outside Biden's inner circle are getting quizzed on whether they themselves saw evidence of mental decline in the 82-year-old Democrat. The White House last year was forced to deny a report of an internal plot to entice Jean-Pierre to leave her post, amid complaints about some of her stumbles her reliance on a binder of prepared information.
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden's former press secretary, leaves Democratic party
Karine Jean-Pierre, who served as White House press secretary for Joe Biden, has left the Democratic party to become an independent, according to the publisher of her forthcoming book. Jean-Pierre, who served two Democratic White Houses, is expected to detail the weeks that preceded Biden's monumental decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, per a preview of the book, which is set to be published this fall. The book, titled Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines, promises a detailed recounting of 'the three weeks that led to Biden's abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic party that led to his decision'. The book will be published by Legacy Lit, a Hachette Book Group imprint. Jean-Pierre's announcement comes as the party has been forced to reckon with its decision to staunchly support Biden's decision to seek a second term as the oldest serving president in American history and despite voter concerns about his age and mental acuity. Tensions between Jean-Pierre and the White House press corps grew tense last year, as reporters pressed for more access and transparency around the president's health. New reporting on Biden's presidency presents a scathing account of efforts by his close staff and allies to hide the extent of his deterioration. In the midst of the debate, Biden's office announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. In comments since leaving the White House, Jean-Pierre described Democrats' response to Biden's disastrous June debate against Trump, in which he appeared disoriented and listless, as a 'firing squad'. 'I had never seen anything like that before,' she said during a discussion hosted by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School in late February, describing the rising tide of calls demanding he abandon his re-election campaign. 'It was truly, truly unfortunate. And I think it hurt us more than folks realized.' Jean-Pierre did not arrive 'lightly' at her decision to leave the Democratic party, according to the publisher. The book, billed as a 'hard-hitting yet hopeful critique', will make the case for 'why Americans must step beyond party lines to embrace life as Independents'. In a series of Instagram posts promoting her book, Jean-Pierre said it was 'time to free ourselves from boxes', joining a growing trend of Americans who do not identify as Democrats or Republicans. According to the latest Gallup poll, far more Americans – 43% – consider themselves to be independents than Democrats – 28% – or Republicans, also 28%. 'As a history maker, veteran public servant, political analyst and independent thinker, she urges Americans to think outside of the blue-and-red box as we consider what's next to save our democracy,' the publisher said. Jean-Pierre was the first Black woman and openly LGBTQ+ person to serve as White House press secretary, assuming the role after Jen Psaki departed the position.
