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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s last year on the job was marked by what many saw as more embarrassing clarifications behind the podium.
In 2024, Jean-Pierre dealt with several major political events surrounding President Biden, such as ongoing concerns over his mental acuity, his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, and the pardon of his son Hunter after repeatedly insisting he wouldn’t.
White House reporters challenged Jean-Pierre on not just Biden’s responses to these issues but her own as well, accusing her of going back on her previous statements. This led to more numerous heated confrontations with the press.
Here are some of the more memorable interactions of 2024:
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S MOST MEMORABLE CLASHES WITH REPORTERS THROUGHOUT 2023
In January, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre about polling that showed Americans having less trust in Biden’s mental acuity ahead of the presidential election. He specifically cited an ABC poll showing Biden’s rating for health down by five points since the previous May.
“You know, I have to say that’s a little confusing for me, because if you look at what this president has done the last three years, historical pieces of legislation, right? When it comes to bipartisan infrastructure deal, many presidents before, like your favorite president, had said that—,” she responded.
“Who’s my favorite president?” Doocy interjected.
Jean-Pierre remarked, “Why don’t you … why don’t we let the American people guess?”
The two went back and forth for a few seconds as he pressed her further to explain her remark.
“I don’t understand what you’re getting at,” Doocy said.
“Let me finish. Let me finish,” Jean-Pierre insisted.
She went on to boast about the state of the economy, calling Biden a “pretty effective president” considering the legislation passed under him.
In March, Fox Business’ Edward Lawrence asked Jean-Pierre about the president being seen with notecards at multiple recent events.
Jean-Pierre shot back, “You’re upset because the president has notecards? You’re asking me a question about the president having notecards?”
Lawrence replied, “I’m asking why does he rely so heavily–”
She cut him off, stating, “The president who has had probably one of the most successful first three years of an administration than any modern-day president? He’s done more in the first three years than most presidents who have two terms. You’re asking me about notecards? I don’t think–”
When Lawrence followed up, Jean-Pierre deflected again, saying, “I think what’s important here and what the American people care about is how this president is delivering for them. And that’s what he’s doing and that’s what’s the most important thing here.”
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.”
Despite her claim, one of the viral videos included a fundraiser with actor George Clooney, an event that eventually led to the actor calling for Biden to leave the presidential race.
Weeks before Biden left the race in July, the New York Post released a series of reports revealing Dr. Kevin Cannard, a neurologist from Walter Reed Military Medical Center who specializes in Parkinson’s disease, visited the White House and met with Biden’s doctor, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, several times over the past year.
Although Dr. Cannard’s name was listed on public visitor logs, Jean-Pierre refused to say any names, igniting a feud with CBS reporter Ed O’Keefe.
“It’s a very basic, direct question,” O’Keefe shouted, grabbing her attention. “That’s what you should be able to answer by this point.”
“No, no, no, no, no,” Jean-Pierre immediately pushed back. “Ed, please. A little respect here. Please.”
O’Keefe received help from NBC correspondent Kelly O’Donnell, who reiterated that the names were part of the public record.
“There’s no reason to go back and forth with me in this aggressive way,” Jean-Pierre scolded the reporters.
“Well, we are miffed around here about what has been shared with the press corps about him,” an exasperated O’Keefe said.
Just days after the second assassination attempt against eventual President-elect Donald Trump in September, Jean-Pierre rebuffed questions about whether Biden planned to stop referring to Trump as a “threat” to democracy.
“How many more assassination attempts on Donald Trump until the president and vice president and you pick a different word to describe Trump, other than ‘threat’?” Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked.
She answered, “If anything from this administration, I completely disagree with the premise of your question. The question that you’re asking also is incredibly dangerous in the way that you’re asking it because the American people are watching. And to say that, to say that from the administration who has consistently condemned political violence, from an administration where the president called the former president and was thankful, grateful that he was okay, from an administration that has called out Jan. 6, called out the attack on Paul Pelosi, called out and said we need to lower the temperature after the Butler incident.”
“And now for you to make that kind of comment in your question because your question involved a comment and a statement, and that is also incredibly dangerous,” Jean-Pierre said.
She also justified calling Trump a threat to democracy by invoking Jan. 6.
“I mean, if that’s not a threat to our democracy, when it was one of the darkest days of our democracy – January 6th, one of the darkest days – then what is?” Jean-Pierre asked.
With just weeks to go in his presidency, Biden pardoned his son after previously 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 possible. A few days after Hunter Biden’s pardon, 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.
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“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.