Karine Jean-Pierre, President Joe Biden’s former press secretary, has ignited a firestorm inside Democratic ranks with the announcement of her new book, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines. In the memoir, Jean-Pierre not only severs ties with the Democratic Party but accuses Biden’s inner circle of mismanagement, denial, and betrayal—prompting a swift and bitter backlash from former colleagues.
Once heralded as a “historic” figure—the first Black and openly gay press secretary—Jean-Pierre now casts herself as a disillusioned insider turned political independent, reports The New York Times. Her book, slated for release by Legacy Lit this fall, frames the Biden White House as dysfunctional and rudderless, particularly in the twilight of Biden’s first term. “It’s not just that the party left Biden,” she says in a promotional video, “it left the people who believed in him.” But former staffers aren’t buying it.
The news has caused Democrats to lash out against their formerly-loved mouthpiece, according to Axios. More than two dozen Biden administration alumni describe Jean-Pierre’s White House tenure as chaotic, self-serving, and—most damning—ineffective. One former official who worked closely with her called Jean-Pierre “the most unprepared person I’ve ever shared a press suite with,” citing media blunders, internal friction, and an alleged obsession with building her personal brand. Several aides said entire days were lost managing her mood swings and media demands.
Jean-Pierre’s time behind the podium was rocky from the start, but her most controversial moments came in the wake of Biden’s calamitous June 2024 debate performance. Tasked with shielding the 81-year-old president from mounting questions about his cognitive health, Jean-Pierre repeatedly deflected, dismissed, or downplayed concerns—only to face internal skepticism from the very people she worked alongside. Former aides suggest her survival owed more to politics than performance. Her alliance with Anthony Bernal, Jill Biden’s powerful and notoriously controlling senior aide, reportedly insulated her from internal accountability.
Adding fuel to the fire, new revelations suggest Jean-Pierre’s communications were heavily shaped by outside handlers. Emails obtained by Axios show New York publicist Gilda Squire—best known for managing media figures—was quietly looped into discussions on Jean-Pierre’s image while she was still a government employee. One such email chain involved planning her 2023 Vogue profile. Though Squire has insisted their professional relationship began after Jean-Pierre left government, the paper trail raises ethical questions. Her critics see a pattern: a press secretary who treated the West Wing like a steppingstone, not a sacred duty.
Independent is framed as a call to arms against partisan groupthink—but few in Democratic circles are cheering. Some has said she’s trying to sell herself as a truth-teller while she was silent when it counted. Even longtime Democratic loyalists are recoiling from the book’s central claim—that the party abandoned Joe Biden.
Of course, they can say that, but it doesn’t make it true.
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Who writes a book this fast since Nov when Joe lost to date
Used Autopen
Good to see Dem divide
You know this sort of makes sense. All along KJP was acting very hostile and even arrogant toward the Media. Maybe she was just following some DNC script to cober up for Biden’s serious problems that she could not say what she wanted. The fact that she has severed her ties with the DNC/Democrats goes really far off script. It is probably a good thing that she wrote her book and it has been announced because otherwise the DNC would have tried to block it’s release. I guess I will reserve my judgement until I hear more about what her book exposes.