Biden Aides Go Nuclear on Latrine John-Pissoir, Calling Her the Most Incompetent WH Spokesman In History

Putting aside the recent unpleasantness...

As some have noted: When you pointed out that Latrine John-Pissoir was an incompetent incapable of answering basic questions without reading a largely-unrelated entry from her giant cheat-sheet briefing book, you were a racist homophobe who hates women and immigrants.

But when Latrine John-Pissoir pisses off Biden staffers, and they say she's an incompetent incapable of answering basic questions without reading a largely-unrelated entry from her giant cheat-sheet briefing book, they are heroic truth-tellers correcting the record.

Axios reports what everyone else saw with their own eyes five years ago... again.

Former Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced Tuesday that she's written a book about a "broken" Biden White House and what she sees as the betrayal of the former president by the Democratic Party.

Many of her former colleagues think Jean-Pierre -- the face of the White House for more than two years -- was part of the problem, according to interviews with more than two dozen former Biden administration officials.

Driving the news: Jean-Pierre's announcement Wednesday led former Biden aides to tee off on her. Many quietly had fumed for years, believing she was incompetent at her job at the White House podium and more interested in promoting herself than Joe Biden.

...

What they're saying: One former White House official who worked closely with Jean-Pierre told Axios that she "was one of the most ineffectual and unprepared people I've ever worked with. ... She had meltdowns after any interview that asked about a topic not sent over by producers."

"She didn't know how to manage a team, didn't know how to shape or deliver a message, and often created more problems than she solved," the official said.

A former Biden communications official threw more wood on the fire: "The hubris of thinking you can position yourself as an outsider when you not only have enjoyed the perks of extreme proximity to power -- which ... bestows the name recognition needed to sell books off your name -- but have actively wielded it from the biggest pulpit there is, is as breathtaking as it is desperate ... It's difficult to see how this is anything but a bizarre cash grab."

Another former White House official familiar with the dynamics told Axios: "The amount of time that was spent coddling [Jean-Pierre] and appeasing her was astronomical compared to our attention on actual matters of substance."

A former senior spokesperson in Biden's administration added: "It's hard to believe someone could look at the past year and genuinely think, 'The party left Joe Biden -- that's why I'm leaving the Democratic Party.' '"

...

The intrigue: Despite longstanding internal frustration with Jean-Pierre's performance since she took over as press secretary in mid-2022, Biden aides largely had stayed silent because she was seen as untouchable, given her close relationship with Jill Biden's top aide Anthony Bernal.

Um, Axios... is that the only reason she was "untouchable"?

When people criticized her, they weren't attacked as "people who disagreed with Jill Biden's top aide Anthony Bernal."

They were attacked as racist homophobes who hate women and immigrants.

Trust the news media, people. They tell nothing but the full truth.

...

Zoom in: Some former Biden aides said Jean-Pierre's tenure was complicated by her work with a New York-based publicist, Gilda Squire.

Jean-Pierre was the focus of several magazine profiles and appeared on "The View" in New York. At one point, she wanted to appear on the show once a week.

There was another story about her trying to get hired by The View. They never even bothered to call her back, those racists!

Within the White House, there were concerns about Squire being looped in on internal emails regarding Jean-Pierre's profiles and promotional appearances.

Concerns about Jean-Pierre's self-promotion were even raised with the White House counsel's office because some staffers felt torn between their administration duties and helping Jean-Pierre promote herself, according to a former White House aide familiar with the internal dynamics.

Contacted by Axios in February 2024, Squire asked to go off the record and denied she was working with Jean-Pierre to navigate and boost the press secretary's public profile. As a result, Axios didn't report Squire's involvement at the time.

Internal White House emails obtained later by Axios, however, show that Squire was copied on emails related to Jean-Pierre's publicity work. The messages included a September 2023 email describing plans for a Vogue magazine profile.

Alex Thompson is now posting the PR flack's false denial, saying that people who lie don't get the protections of an "off the record" agreement.

Um... will you be revealing the emails of Biden staffers who lied about Biden's mental fitness, or are you just taking cheap shots against an easy target?

Becket Adams
@BecketAdams

So ... when we all went "Wow KJP is terrible at her job" and the White House was all "how dare you speak in such a manner about our black queer queen" .... the White House was lying about what we all could clearly see with our own two eyes?

Has this happened before??

David Weigel
@daveweigel

A very odd part of the Biden legacy: Elevating black women as the first to be VP and WH press secretary, then making it known to everybody that they were disasters.

I saw a Democrat remark that there are few opportunities for Biden staffers to get work now, and that this is Latrine John-Pissoir's attempt at a quick grift.

posted by Ace at 04:09 PM

| Access Comments