White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre didn’t stick around for long at her first press briefing since Tuesday’s election, finally leaving the podium after a Fox News reporter asked if President Joe Biden has considered his culpability in President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.
A cool and measured KJP came undone after reporter Jacqui Heinrich queried her about a tweet by Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres, who wrote on Wednesday that “Donald Trump has no greater friend” than far-left activists who “managed to alienate large numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from the Democratic Party with absurdities like ‘Defund the Police’ or ‘from the river to the sea.’” Heinrich contrasted that with previous excuses put forth by the administration blaming holdover inflation from the pandemic as the cause of Trump’s reelection rather than the messaging the Vice President Kamala Harris ran on. “Is that easier than looking in the mirror?” she asked directly.Jean-Pierre tried to politely deflect, stating Biden and Harris have been “pretty clear and understanding” about the results of the election. Heinrich followed up to ask about Biden’s statement Wednesday that everything “would be okay” after Trump’s win despite the transparent fear-mongering he, Harris, and top Democrats engaged in by casting the former president as a threat to democracy. “Is the message to people who are fearful based on what the messaging was, about the stakes and…”Well, now you’re just twisting everything around now, and that’s really unfair. No no no, Jacqui, it’s unfair,” Jean-Pierre shot back, talking over Heinrich’s objections. “I’ve been standing here trying to be very respectful to what happened… two nights ago, being respectful. I’ve been standing here saying we respect the decision that the American people made. I do not appreciate having my words twisted. I have been very, very, very clear about what the president wants to do, and the vice president, deliver for the American people. They deserve a peaceful transfer of power, and that’s what you’re gonna see.”
The visibly irritated KJP grabbed her binder, gave a quick “thanks everybody,” and stormed out of the room.KJP’s comments came less than a day after Vice President Harris conceded the election but vowed to “not concede the fight that powered this campaign.” Trump’s decisive win and historic margins of victory among Black and Latino voters have sparked recriminations among top figures in the Democratic Party who haven’t shied away from blaming Biden’s “arrogance” for not getting out of the race sooner. The circular firing squad has left KJP in the middle, forced to answer for Harris’s performance while trying to avoid firing back too sharply at prominent party members like Rep. Torres.
