NEED TO KNOW
- Former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called out her Gen Z successor, Karoline Leavitt, for being “inappropriate” with members of the press
- During an appearance on ‘The View’ this week, Jean-Pierre was asked about recent quotes and text exchanges Leavitt has had with reporters
- “The [position of] White House Press Secretary is not about doing online trolling,” Jean-Pierre said. “It is an honor and a privilege to have that job and to speak on behalf of the most powerful person in the world.”
Former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is criticizing her Gen Z successor, Karoline Leavitt, for her recent “inappropriate” exchanges with members of the press.
Jean-Pierre, who served as press secretary under President Joe Biden, was a guest on The View on Tuesday, Oct. 21, and was asked by the panel about several recent viral moments between Leavitt and the press.
Jean-Pierre, 51, first reacted to a clip of Leavitt, 28, on Fox News, in which she said that, “The Democrat party’s main constituency is Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals.”
“I have so many thoughts there,” Jean-Pierre said. “Hearing that, it’s deplorable. And I’m using that word on purpose because they don’t seem to understand — this is the Trump White House — that they don’t work for just one man. They work for the American people. It is about coming together for a common good.”
“Deplorable” became something of a badge of honor for President Donald Trump and his MAGA following during the 2016 presidential election, after his opponent, Hillary Clinton, said that half of his supporters were “a basket of deplorables.”
Next, Jean-Pierre addressed a text exchange that Leavitt shared on social media on Oct. 20. The White House Press Secretary posted a private message between herself and HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte in which he asked about a planned meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In his initial message, Dáte asked Leavitt if Trump was “aware of the significance of Budapest” as the meeting place between Trump and Putin. The Hungarian capital city was the site of a compromise between Russia and Ukraine in 1994, in which Russia agreed not to invade Ukraine if the country relinquished the nuclear weapons it kept when the Soviet Union disbanded — a promise that, ultimately, was not kept.
“Who suggested Budapest?” Dáte asked.
“Your mom did,” Leavitt replied.
The White House correspondent responded to the remark by asking if the topic was “funny” to Leavitt.
“It’s funny to me that you actually consider yourself a journal [sic],” she shot back. “You are a far left hack who nobody takes seriously, including your colleagues in the media, they just don’t tell you that to your face. Stop texting me your disingenuous, biased, and bull— questions.”
Jean-Pierre said of the exchange, “The [position of] White House Press Secretary is not about doing online trolling. It is not. It is an honor and a privilege to have that job and to speak on behalf of the most powerful person in the world.”
“And there is a level of respect for the freedom of the press. Even if you disagree with them!” she continued. “That is what that whole back and forth, when you’re seeing a press briefing room, is about. It shows that we believe in democracy. It shows the world — not just here, but the world — that the press is going to do what they need to do to hold us accountable, and they need to do what we need to do to communicate to the American people about what we’re doing.”
She accused Leavitt, and the Trump administration as a whole, of deepening the divide between the U.S.’s two major parties by resorting to name-calling and ad hominem attacks.
“I just feel like it is not appropriate to do online trolling and attack people in that way,” Jean-Pierre said. “It doesn’t help with the partisanship that we’re seeing right now. And also, that is not what the White House is supposed to be about. It’s supposed to be about every American person, every voter, every citizen, that lives in this country and participates.”
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Jean-Pierre spoke with PEOPLE earlier this year, shortly after departing her White House role. She admitted that she was ready for a change of pace after the hectic day-to-day of the press room.
“It was an honor and a privilege to have the job and to have done it for two and a half years, but I don’t miss it,” Jean-Pierre said.
The former press secretary is now promoting her new book, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines, about her decision to leave the Democratic Party after departing the White House.
“Look, for me, I’m not telling people, Hey, you go become an independent,” she recently told NPR. “There is a growing number of people who see themselves as independents, including young people. We have to question, why is that?”
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