Background

Karine Jean-Pierre was born on August 13, 1977, in Fort-de-France, Martinique, a Caribbean island that is an overseas territory of France, but she grew up in Queens, New York.

In 1997 Jean-Pierre met David Dinkins, the former Democratic mayor of New York City, who subsequently became her mentor.

Jean-Pierre went on to earn a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in 2003.

She is openly lesbian and is married to CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

Political & Activist Pursuits

A champion of identity politics, Jean-Pierre checks many boxes that are important to the Left. “As a vegetarian, environmentalist and minority rights activist, Karine undeniably represents the left wing of the Democratic Party,” says The Africa Report. “When it comes to social policy, she is aligned with the likes of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”

A strong supporter of Haiti’s authoritarian Marxist President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Jean-Pierre co-chaired an April 7, 2004 rally at Brooklyn College titled “An Evening with Friends of Haiti: The Truth Behind the Haiti Coup,” after Aristide had been overthrown in a coup two months earlier. A crowd of some 2,000 people attended the rally, at which the United States was blamed for Aristide’s ouster. Jean-Pierre also visited Haiti as a member of an activist-led fact-finding delegation.

In the early to mid-2000s, Jean-Pierre served as Press Secretary to Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, and as Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Legislative & Budget Affairs for two Democratic members of the New York City Council. Her duties with the City Council included maintaining relationships with Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the pro-socialist community organization ACORN.

In 2006-07, Jean-Pierre worked for SEIU’s Wal-Mart Watch, a group trying to unionize the retail giant’s employees.

Around that same time, she became the national spokeswoman for MoveOn.org, as well as a political analyst for MSNBC and NBC News.

From January 2007 to February 2008, Jean-Pierre was the Southeast Regional Political Director for Democrat John Edwards’ presidential campaign.

Jean-Pierre held multiple positions in Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, particularly through the organization Obama For America/Organizing For America.

From January to May of 2009, Jean-Pierre was the U.S. Labor Department’s White House Liaison.

From May 2009 to March 2011, she was the Regional Political Director in the White House Office of Political Affairs. “Serving and working for President Obama, where you can be openly gay, has been an amazing honor,” she later said. “It felt incredible to be a part of an administration that prioritizes LGBT issues.”

In 2013, Jean-Pierre worked as a senior adviser to Democrat Bill Thompson’s run for Mayor of New York City, and as the campaign manager for Democrat Letitia James’ bid for the position of New York City Public Advocate.

From April 2014 to January 2015, Jean-Pierre was the campaign manager for the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Initiative.

From May 2015 to February 2016, she served as deputy campaign manager for Democrat Martin O’Malley’s presidential run.

Teaching at Columbia University

In 2013, Jean-Pierre became a lecturer/faculty member in Columbia University’s Department of International and Public Affairs.

Jean-Pierre’s Contempt for Donald Trump, Whom She Considered an “Illegitimate” President Who “Stole” an Election

On April 27, 2016, MoveOn.org announced in a press release that it had hired Jean-Pierre as “Senior Advisor and National Spokesperson for the group’s work on the 2016 election.” In these roles, said the release, “Karine will advise on, and serve as a spokesperson around, MoveOn’s electoral work, including a major effort to stand up to Donald Trump and his rhetoric and platform of hate, violence, racism, immigrant­-bashing, and woman-­bashing.” Jean-Pierre affirmed that she was happy to accept this position combatting what she described as Trump’s “bigotry” and “hate,” and she proudly declared that she personally represented “everything that Donald Trump hates.” (Jean-Pierre would continue working for MoveOn until the 2020 presidential campaign.)

On December 17, 2016, Jean-Pierre tweeted: “Stolen emails, stolen drone, stolen election …..welcome to the world of #unpresidented Trump.”

During a February 10, 2017 appearance on HBO’s Real Time, Jean-Pierre told host Bill Maher: “I think the thing to understand is that, if you are not white, male, straight, you are — you fear a — Donald Trump’s presidency because there is no place for you in a Donald Trump’s presidency.” “He [Trump] ran the most anti-immigration campaign that we have ever seen,” Jean-Pierre added. “He talked about Mexicans, calling them rapists and criminals. He talked about Muslim ban, and it is fearful for all of us.”

In September 2017, Jean-Pierre condemned President Trump for suggesting that “he might do away with DACA,” former President Barack Obama’s 2012 “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” program, which had been enacted to protect hundreds of thousands of young illegal aliens from deportation. The termination of DACA, said Jean-Pierre, would represent “another moral line that [Trump] would be crossing” for the purpose of “advancing a white supremacy agenda.”

In a December 23, 2017 tweet, Jean-Pierre referred to Trump as an “illegitimate” president: “Trump always finds a way to take it to the lowest of lows. Not only is he petulant dotard but also a deplorable illegitimate president.”

In a January 2018 opinion piece excoriating Trump and his agenda, Jean-Pierre wrote:

“Donald Trump’s legacy is not simply speckled with incidents of racism; it itself is racist. Donald Trump entered the business world as a racist, he entered the 2016 election as a racist, and he entered the White House as a racist.

“In 1989, five black and Latino teenage boys were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman jogging in Central Park in a case that relied heavily — perhaps exclusively — on racist stereotypes of black men sexually assaulting white women. The case came to be known as the Central Park Five. Leading the calls for these children’s execution was Donald Trump, who had no connection to the case — other than that he was racist, and this was an opportunity to show it. Even after the Central Park Five were exonerated by DNA evidence and the confession of the actual perpetrator, Trump refused to apologize.^[1]

“In 2016 as the Republican nominee for President, Donald Trump called Mexican immigrants ‘racists,’ again relying on tired tropes about black and brown men sexually assaulting white women […] He questioned the competence of a Mexican American judge, Gonzalo Curiel, solely on the basis of his ethnic heritage. And he called for ‘a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States’ […]

“And, since winning the presidency — to pick just one example— his response to a white supremacist rally that culminated in the murder of a peaceful protester was to tell Americans that ‘there are two sides to a story.’ He’s right, in a way: One side was racist, the other was not. It doesn’t take much imagination to guess to which side Trump was more sympathetic. […]

“Given all this, it’s not surprising Donald Trump called Haiti — a country whose independence and freedom was borne out of the first successful slave-led revolution — a ‘shithole.’^[2]  It’s also not surprising he said so in the context of immigration policy discussions. Because just as Trump’s racism is intrinsic to who he is as a person, it too is embedded in his policy choices, from his attempts to implement a somewhat limited version of the Muslim ban he promised to his insistence on building a wall on the border with Mexico as part of any immigration reform. […]

“Trump’s racism is what underlies and governs his support of tying immigration quotas to ‘historical norms.’ widely seen as a way to limit immigration from non-European countries, which is a policy we as a nation have already long ago understood to be racist and discarded, and to end family reunification policies (which Republicans have rebranded ‘chain migration’) which allows families to build new lives in America together. […]

“Every person who stays silent on Donald Trump’s racism, regardless of their own race or party, is betraying not just America’s communities of color, but the very ideals on which this country was founded.”

During a January 13, 2018 appearance on the MSNBC program AM Joy, Jean-Pierre told host Joy Reid: “We have a racist president in the White House who really pushes his racism like a peacock. It’s very clear how he feels about immigration. He … wants to put a sign on the Statue of Liberty and say [that says], ‘Whites only. And no one else need to apply.’ It’s troubling, and I really throw this to the Republicans out there on the hill: What are you going to do? Are you really going to continue to embrace all this racism policies [sic] that the president puts forth? Is that what you’re going to do?”

During a June 3, 2018 appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Jean-Pierre continued her assault on President Trump, saying: “[H]e is a bully in chief. He uses the bully pulpit to attack. He goes after women of color, he and his administration. They go after Latinos and immigrants, calling them animals, conflating MS-13 to immigrants, to refugees. Racism was here before Donald Trump, and sadly it will be here after. That is the fact. But what he has done, he has normalized it. He’s given license to people to make it okay, to say, ‘You want to put out your racism, even loud and be public about it? Go ahead because he’s doing it.’ And that is the problem that we’re in in this culture war because it is coming from the White House.”

In a November 2019 op-ed in Vogue magazine, Jean-Pierre characterized the Trump Administration as “a regime of white supremacy,” and she falsely accused the President of having said that the neo-Nazis who infamously had marched in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017 were “very fine people.”

Arguing That Accusations of Sexual Impropriety Should Disqualify Candidates from Seeking Political Office

In December 2017, Jean-Pierre told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the mere accusation of sexual impropriety — even in the absence of evidence — should be enough to forever disqualify a person from running for political office. “I think we’re at a point in time in this country where the ‘#MeToo’ movement [against sexual abuse and harassment] has really … gotten some traction and we’re finally listening to victims, whether they’re women or men. And I think if you’re running for office, you can’t have been accused of sexual harassment or assault. And I think that we have to really take that next step here and make sure that it doesn’t happen with anyone in office or out of office.”

In a May 25, 2022 article in Breitbart.com, Joel Pollack observed: “Ironically, she [Jean-Pierre] went on to work for [President Joe] Biden, even after he had been credibly accused of sexual misconduct by former aide Tara Reade.”

Jean-Pierre & Israel

After not even one Democratic presidential candidate chose to attend the annual convention of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) in 2019, Jean-Pierre wrote a March 26, 2019 opinion column in Newsweek titled “Why 2020 Democrats Skipped AIPAC: Pro-Israel Group Is Often the Antithesis of Progressive Values.” “[T]hey made the right call,” she said, “because when it comes down to it, AIPAC’s policies are not progressive policies. AIPAC’s values are not progressive values.” Jean-Pierre also bemoaned AIPAC’s decision to spend “tens of millions of dollars” trying to defeat the “historic” Iran nuclear deal crafted by President Obama, a deal she described as an “attempt to create and maintain peace.” “In its attempts to ruin the Iran deal, AIPAC supported the group that’s credited with inspiring President Trump to enact the Muslim Ban and has been known to spread anti-Muslim racism,” she wrote without providing evidence of the alleged racism.

In the same Newsweek piece, Jean-Pierre also accused Israel of war crimes by way of criticizing AIPAC for having invited then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be the lead speaker at a conference. “Netanyahu not only has personal charges levied against him—he’s been indicted on both bribery and fraud charges—but under his leadership of Israel, according to the United Nations, Israel may have committed war crimes in its attacks on Gazan protesters,” she wrote.

Jean-Pierre further alleged that AIPAC routinely engaged in “severely racist, Islamophobic rhetoric” and was guilty of “trafficking in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab rhetoric while lifting up Islamophobic voices and attitudes.” Such rhetoric “doesn’t simply sit in a silo,” she expounded. “It interacts with the world, creating and fuming hatred that leads to hateful acts, whether the package is individual hate crimes—or collective—[like] the Muslim ban.”

AIPAC had also “refused to condemn the repeated and callous anti-Semitic remarks that have come out of the Trump administration,” Jean-Pierre wrote, citing a disputed claim that Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon had once said he did not want his children attending school with Jewish classmates.

“You cannot call yourself a progressive while continuing to associate yourself with an organization like AIPAC that has often been the antithesis of what it means to be progressive,” Jean-Pierre wrote in her Newsweek piece as well.

2019 Memoir

Jean-Pierre’s 2019 memoir, Moving Forward: A Story of Hope, Hard Work, and the Promise of America, was published by Hanover Square Press. The book’s foreword was written by Valerie Jarrett, a close friend and White House adviser of Barack Obama.

Jean-Pierre was interviewed by Judy Woodruff of PBS on November 26, 2019, to promote the book. In that interview, Jean-Pierre acknowledged that she has personally struggled with mental health issues during the course of her life:

“And one of the reasons I talk about it in the book is because there is a stigma connected to mental health, and people don’t want to talk about what they go through when they are in dark times and they don’t know how to get out of it. And because of the pressures of me growing up, and just feeling like an outsider all through my growing up, my young — young days, there was a time where I attempted to take my life. I attempted suicide. And it was a dark, dark time in my life, clearly. And so I put that in the book. I put it in the book because I want to help people. I want anybody who has ever felt that way to feel like there is a way out and to know there is a way out.”

Jean-Pierre in the Biden-Harris White House

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Jean-Pierre served as Chief of Staff to Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

In January 2021, Jean-Pierre became the White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary for Joe Biden‘s administration.

Accusing Republicans of Lying about Critical Race Theory

After Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in a stunning upset in the Virginia gubernatorial election of November 2021 – an outcome that was at least partially attributable to Republicans hammering away at Democrats for supporting the teaching of the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) to schoolchildren — Jean-Pierre attacked Republicans. At a press briefing on November 4, she said: “Republicans are lying. They’re not being honest. They’re not being truthful about where we [Democrats] stand [regarding CRT]. And they’re … cynically trying to use our kids as a political football. They’re talking about our kids … when it’s election season, but they won’t vote for them when it matters.”

White House Press Secretary

On May 5, 2022, Jean-Pierre was named as the new White House Press Secretary, replacing Jen Psaki, who was slated to start working for MSNBC on May 13.

On May 13, 2022, President Biden bristled when reporters asked if he could have acted sooner to address the nationwide baby-formula shortage. “If we had been better mind readers, I guess we could’ve, but we moved as the problem became apparent to us,” Biden replied sarcastically. Indeed, this was the first time he ever mentioned the problem, though news reports had been discussing it for weeks.

On May 16, 2022, Jean-Pierre called the baby-formula shortage “one of the president’s top priorities.” “This is something he is focusing on very acutely, and again I said 24/7 we’ve been working on this since we have learned about this back in February,” she stated.

Jean-Pierre Says That Biden Opposes “Hardening Schools” to Protect Against Mass Shootings

On June 1, 2022 — a few days after after an 18-year-old Latino gunman walked unobstructed into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and murdered 19 children and two teachers —  Jean-Pierre said that President Biden was opposed to the policy of “hardening schools” as a means of protecting children from mass shooters. “I know there’s been conversation about hardening schools,” she said. “That is not something that he believes in. He believes that we should be able to give teachers the resources to be able to do the job that they’re meant to do at schools.” Jean-Pierre also said that “background checks” were needed to “make sure that our communities are protected” and ensure “that our children are not going to school feeling unsafe” — though the Texas gunman had in fact passed a background check when purchasing the weapons that he used in his mass murder.

Defending the Biden Administration’s Decision to Fill Gaps in Trump’s Border Wall in Arizona

On July 28, 2022, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas authorized the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency to seal four separate gaps in former President Trump’s uncompleted border wall near the Morelos Dam just west of downtown Yuma, Arizona. Those gaps had become a major thoroughfare for illegal migrants crossing into the United States. The DHS claimed that the area “presents safety and life hazard risks for migrants attempting to cross into the United States where there is a risk of drownings and injuries from falls.”

In light of the Biden administration’s decision, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked Karine Jean-Pierre at her regular press briefing: “Why is the Biden administration building a border wall in Arizona?” .

“We’re not finishing the wall,” Jean-Pierre replied. “We are cleaning up the mess the prior administration left behind in their failed attempt to build a wall.”

“But President Biden, when he was a candidate, said, ‘There will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration,’” Doocy noted, referencing an August 2020 statement by Biden. “So what changed?”

“We are not finishing the wall,” Jean-Pierre repeated.

“If walls work in that part of Arizona,” Doocy asked, “is this the administration trying to get migrants to cross somewhere else, like in Texas? What is the point?”

Jean-Pierre again said, “We are not finishing the wall. We are cleaning up the mess that the prior administration made. We are trying to save lives. This is what the prior administration left behind that we are now cleaning up.”

“By finishing the wall, is this —” Doocy continued.

“We are not finishing the wall,” Jean-Pierre interrupted.

“By filling in, finishing —” Doocy said.

“We are not finishing the wall,” Jean-Pierre again interjected.

Doocy then asked, “By filling in [the wall], is this racist? Because in 2019, when the former guy [Trump] was proposing a wall, you said that it was his racist wall. So how is this any different?”

“I’m not even sure how you get [from] your first question to this question that you just asked me,” Jean-Pierre replied. “A border wall is an ineffective use of taxpayer dollars … Just recently, CBP reported that new bollard fencing along the Southwest border was breached 3,272 times between fiscal year 2019 and 2021, requiring $2.6 million in repairs. It’s ineffective. We are not finishing the wall. We are cleaning up the mess that the last administration made.”

The principal motivation for the Biden administration’s action seemed to be the fact that with the November midterm elections just over three months away, American voters were disenchanted with Biden’s open-border policies  — policies that were likely to have very direct implications for the political fortunes Democrat U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, who the day before had praised DHS for filling in the gaps in the wall.

Jean-Pierre’s History of Denying the Results of Elections Won by Republicans

In September 2022, President Biden delivered a speech in which he described “MAGA Republicans” as a threat to democracy, condemninhg them as “semi-fascists” who refused to “recognize the will of the people” and “accept the results of a free election.” But Jean-Pierre had a documented history of repeatedly committing that very same offense. Some examples:

• In December 2016, Jean-Pierre promoted the Russia-collusion hoax which claimed that Donald Trump had worked with the Kremlin to “steal” the U.S. presidential election of 2016. “Stolen emails, stolen drone, stolen election … welcome to the world of #unpresidented Trump,” she wrote on Twitter .
• In 2019, Jean-Pierre claimed that Republican Brian Kemp “stole” Georgia’s gubernatorial election from Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams. “Yes – the race was stolen,” she wrote on Twitter.
• In 2000, Jean-Pierre tweeted: “Reminder: Brian Kemp stole the gubernatorial election from Georgians and Stacey Abrams.”

When ahe was confronted about these aforementioned comments in early September 2022, Jean-Pierre said it was “ridiculous” to compare them to Trump’s “extreme” remarks about the 2020 election. “I was talking specifically at that time of what was happening with voting rights and what was in danger, of voting rights,” she stated.

Jean-Pierre Tries to Explain Away Biden’s Memory Failure Regarding a Congresswoman’s Recent Death

Jean-Pierre sparked controversy as a result of the explanation she offered for a verbal gaffe committed by President Biden during a Wednesday, September 28, 2022 conference on the issue of hunger in America. As Biden was praising particular lawmakers who had been prominent in drawing attention to that issue, he searched the crowd and motioned to see if Rep. Jackie Walorski of Indiana was in the room so she could be acknowledged. “Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie?” Biden asked. “I think she was going to be here.” But in fact, Walorski had been killed in a car accident on August 3 along with two of her staffers. Indeed, Biden at the time had joined with his wife in issuing a statement extending their “deepest condolences” to Walorski’s family and affirming that they “appreciated her [Walorski’s] partnership” in arranging what would eventually be the September 28 hunger conference.

When reporters during the White House daily briefing on September 28 asked Jean-Pierre to comment on the gaffe Biden had committed earlier that day, she refused to characterize it as a gaffe in any way. Below is a transcript of her relevant exchanges with reporters regarding the matter:

Q:  What happened in the hunger event today?  The President appeared to look around the room for an audience member, a member of Congress who passed away last month.  He seemed to indicate she might be in the room.  What happened there?

JEAN-PIERRE:  So the President was, as you all know — you guys were watching today’s event, a very important event on food insecurity.  The President was naming the congressional champions on this issue and was acknowledging her incredible work.  He had — he had already planned to welcome the congresswoman’s family to the White House on Friday.  There will be a bill signing in her honor this coming Friday. So, of course, she was on his mind.  She was of top of mind for the President.  He looks — very much looks forward to discussing her remarkable legacy of public service with them when he sees her family this coming Friday.

Q:  He said, “Jackie, are you here?  Where’s Jackie?  She must not be here.”

JEAN-PIERRE:  No, I totally understand.  I just — I just explained she was on top of mind.  You know, this wasn’t — what we were able to witness today and what the President was able to lift up in this — at this conference at this event was how her — her focus on wanting to deal with, combat food — food insecurity in America.  And this is something that he was lifting up and honoring. And, again, he knows that he’s going to see her family this coming Friday.  There’s a bill signing that’s going to happen in renaming a VA clinic in Indiana after the late congresswoman.  He knows that he is going to see her family, and she was at top of mind. […]

Q:  And just one more quick follow-up, because I’m trying to get my head around the response.  If the late congresswoman was top of mind for the President and her family was expected to be here and that’s what he was thinking about, what — why was he looking for her?  I’m not trying to be snarky here.  But I … don’t understand the connection between what you’re saying and what he said there.

JEAN-PIERRE:  And, again, I think people can understand, I think the American people out there who, you know, watch the briefing from time to time, maybe at this moment, will understand when someone is at top of mind.  And — and this was such an important — such an important event, when we’re talking about hunger, when we’re talking about food insecurity, when we’re talking about these champions, these congressional champions who were in the room, who have worked in a bipartisan way. You know, we don’t talk much about bipartisan actions that we see in Congress at this time.  And as he was naming folks, he — she was on top of mind, and he understands and knew that she was — he was going to see her family on Friday for this bill signing. Again, I don’t think it’s all that unusual to have someone top of mind, especially as there’s a big event — two big events — today and also Friday — that is going to occur.  And so he’s going to see her family.  They’re going to honor her.  They’re going to celebrate her.  And he will do a bill signing for this really critical — let’s not forget — this critical, important issue for millions and millions of Americans across the country. […]

Q:  Karine, I have John Lennon top of mind just about every day, but I’m not looking around for him anywhere.

JEAN-PIERRE:  When you sign a bill for John Lennon — Lennon as president then we can have this conversation. Okay —

Q:  Why doesn’t he just apologize?

For video of Jean-Pierre’s remarks at the press briefing, click here.

Later, Jean-Pierre steadfastly maintained that Biden had not forgotten about Walorski’s death, nor would she say that Biden might have chosen to rephrase his words if given an opportunity to do so. “I’ve answered it multiple times already in this room,” Jean-Pierre stated. “And my answer is certainly not going to change.”

Evading the Question of Joe Biden’s Involvement in the Corrupt Business Dealings of His Son Hunter

On November 18, 2022, Jean-Pierre was asked about Kentucky Congressman and House Oversight Committee ranking member James Comer’s announcement that he planned to begin “investigating [President Biden’s] involvement in his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings.” The reporter also asked: “And then, on the merits of the allegations, can you address whether the President was involved in any of his son, uh, Hunter or his brother’s, uh, foreign business deals?”

Jean-Pierre replied:

“So, look, uh, you know, um, there’s — there’s some — a little bit of, uh, interesting, uh, you know, kind of, on-brand, uh, thinking here, because, um, you know, congressional Republicans, uh, ran, uh, saying that they were going to fight inflation. Uh, they said they were gonna make that a priority. They were very clear about that these past, uh, several months, and instead, what they’re doing is they’re focusing, uh — you know, they’re focusing — they’re making their top, top priority — they get the majority, and their top priority is actually not focusing on the American families but focusing on the President’s family. They’re not coming up with solutions on how we’re going to lower costs for Amer- — for American families. They’re not coming up with solutions as to how are we dealing with, uh, uh, issues that matter the most to American families.

“Look, the midterm elections were very clear.  They were very clear where Americans said they wanted us to deal with real issues. They wanted us to deal with what we were seeing with democracy. They wanted us to deal with how are we going to fight for freedoms and for rights of the American people. And so, that’s not — the first thing that — the top priority that they lay out is an investigation on the President’s family. Look, my colleagues in the White House Counsel’s Office are handling these threats of investigation by the House Republicans. So, when it comes to specific allegations, I would refer you to — to them. I’m not going to get into specifics of what that might look like or anything else that’s related to this.”

Drawing a Moral Equivalence between Israelis & Palestinians, Urging Both Sides to “De-Escalate”

At approximately 8:15 pm local time on January 27, 2023, a Palestinian gunman got into his car and began shooting a pistol randomly at Jews who were gathered near a synagogue on Neve Yaakov Street in Jerusalem. The attack killed 7 and wounded 3 others.

At a White House press briefing that took place shortly after the shootings, a reporter asked Jean-Pierre: “We just heard that there are at least seven people who have been killed in an attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem. I don’t know if you’ve heard or not. Do you have any comments?” Jean-Pierre replied: “No, I have not heard of that, but — but clearly, we have been asking both sides to de-escalate and we’ll continue to do that.”

At another point in the press briefing, a reporter said to Jean-Pierre: “The other question I have, Karine, is what’s happening in the Middle East and in Israel and the Palestinian Territory.  We saw what happened in Jenin yesterday.  We’re hearing that five people were killed in a synagogue in Jerusalem today. I know that the Secretary of State, Blinken, is going — is the area.  There’s a commitment to the two-state solution that’s going to be reaffirmed.  But is the President — does the President intend to do anything concrete towards the solution this year towards this?”

Jean Pierre responded: “So, as you know, we’re aware of the reports yesterday.  You just mentioned Secretary Blinken’s travel. So we — look, we recognize the very real security challenges facing Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  That is something that we recognize and condemn: terrorist groups planning and carrying out attacks against innocent civilians.  And that is something that you will continue to hear from us, and we will be consistent on that. We also regret the loss of innocent lives and injury — and injuries to civilians, and are deeply concerned by the escalating cycle of violence in the West Bank. Over the past few days, our administration has been closely engaged with the Israeli and Palestinian Authority on the recent violence and to urge de-escalation.  We underscore the urgent need for all parties to de-escalate, to prevent further loss of civilian life, and work together to improve the security situation in the West Bank. Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely — securely — securely.  And you’ll hear that from, clearly, Secretary Blinken, as you just mentioned — his commitment that the President has to a two-state solution.  And we will continue to call on de-escalation in the region.”

In the Wake of Mass Shooting by Trans Male, Jean-Pierre Says Trans Community Is “Under Attack”

On March 27, 2023, a mass shooting occurred at The Covenant School, a private Christian school located in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee. Six people—three children and three staff members—were killed. The shooter was a 28-year-old former student of that school, Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender male.

Hale left behind a diary, whose contents would not be shared with the public until November 6, 2023, when conservative podcaster Steven Crowder posted copies of three of its pages on the Internet. Those contents showed Hale to have been a leftist filled with a deep-seeded hatred for white people. Some excerpts:

• “Kill those kids!!! Those crackers going to private fancy schools with those fancy khakis + sports backpacks w/ their daddies mustangs + convertables [sic].”
• “I wish to shoot you weakass d—ks w/ your mop yellow hair, wanna kill all you little crackers! Bunch of little f—gots w/ your white privileges.”
• “[I] wanna kill all you little crackers.”
• “I hope I have a high death count. Ready to die haha.”

At a White House press briefing on March 30, 2023 — three days after the killings — Jean-Pierre lamented the purported plight of the transgender community in America. Following is a transcript of her exchange with one reporter:

REPORTER: And Kentucky — the Kentucky legislature overrode the governor’s veto of a bill that restricts aspects of trans youth gender-affirming care and the use of bathrooms. I know that the White House released a proclamation for Trans Day of Visibility.  There is a march happening tomorrow to commemorate this day but also to protest these types of bills that are continuing to be passed and advanced in legislatures across the country. What is the White House’s message to these lawmakers that are passing these bills and to those who are taking to the streets to protest them?

JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, first of all, we — we support peaceful protest.  We think it’s important for Americans and people just across the country to make their voices heard, just as long it’s peaceful. And we’ve been very clear about these anti-LGBTQ bills that we’re seeing in state legislators — state legislatures across the country, in particular these anti-trans bills, as they attack trans kids, as they attack trans parents.  It is — it is shameful.  And it is unacceptable. As you mentioned, tomorrow’s Trans Visibility Day.  On a day that we should be lifting up our trans kids, our trans youth, and making sure that they feel seen, we’re seeing more and more of these hateful, hateful bills. And that’s what Republicans want to spend their time on.  They don’t want to talk about lowering costs.  They don’t want to talk about actually making Americans’ lives better.  They want to take away people’s freedoms. And one of the things that we saw during the midterm elections is that people don’t want their freedoms to be taken.  They want us to fight for their freedoms.  And so, it is shameful.  It is disturbing.  And our hearts go out to those — the trans community as they are under attack right now.

Lamenting an Alleged Wave of “Attacks on Transgender Kids”

On March 31, 2023, Jean-Pierre tweeted the following in recognition of “Transgender Day of Visibility”:

• “This year’s Transgender Day of Visibility comes in the midst of a historic wave of attacks on transgender kids. Nearly 600 anti-LGBTQ bills have been filed so far this year in statehouses across the country – and more than half target young people.”
• “As @POTUS has said, transgender youth are the bravest people we know – and should have the freedom to live their lives free from political attacks.  To transgender folks across the country: this Administration has your back.”

Notably, Jean-Pierre’s remarks came just two days after Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a 28-year-old biological female who identified as a transgender male, had killed six people in a mass shooting at The Covenant School, a private Christian school located in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee.

No Lower Limit on Age for Transgender Surgeries

During an April 5, 2023 press briefing, RealClearPolitics reporter Philip Wegmann asked Jean-Pierre: “Today Indiana just banned puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and gender transition surgeries for minors. I’m wondering what the president’s reaction is to the Indiana governor signing that bill into law. And does the president have a position on at what age these kinds of therapies and surgeries are appropriate?”

Jean-Pierre replied: “That’s something for a child and their parents to decide, it’s not something we believe should be decided by legislators. So I’ll leave it there.” She also said: “In the past couple of months, we have seen a record number of LGBTQI bills — anti-LGBTQI bills, more than 600 of them have been filed in statehouses and a significant number of them have been anti-trans bills targeted at youth. And this is a president that has said these are some of the bravest people he knows. But no one should have to be brave just to be themselves. And so, this is a president that has committed to this community, that has been committed to our kids in the trans community, to our trans youth, and he is going to continue to fight for them. But again, I’m just going to leave it there.”

“These [Trangender] Kids Are Our Kids. They Belong to All of Us”

At the 34th annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards in mid-May 2023, Jean Pierre spoke with a reporter from Jezebel.com about restrictions on transgender medical treatments and surgeries in states like Texas or Oklahoma. “I’ve met a lot of parents of trans kids in the past couple of months who have told me these devastating stories,” said the press secretary, “whether they’re in Texas or Oklahoma or wherever they are, saying how they now have to seriously consider leaving their state to protect [get transgender treatment or surgery for] their child. That’s something that we have to call out and continue to be very clear about. These are kids. These are our kids. They belong to all of us.”

Claiming That SCOTUS Ruling against Affirmative Action Was a Blow to “Important Constitutional Rights”

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its decision regarding a pair of lawsuits that had been filed in 2014 against Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC) by Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) — a coalition of more than 20,000 prospective college students and their parents – to challenge the use of affirmative action (racial preferences) in the college admissions process. At issue, specifically, was whether: (a) Harvard University’s admissions office was discriminating against applicants of Asian heritage, who were not being admitted at rates commensurate with their academic qualifications, and (b) the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was giving preference in admissions to black, Hispanic, and Native American applicants over their white and Asian counterparts.

“Harvard’s and UNC’s admissions programs violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the Supreme Court ruled on June 29. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, and he was joined in the verdict by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. “Many universities,” wrote Roberts, “have for too long … concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”

On the July 7, 2023 broadcast of MSNBC’s The Beat, Jean-Pierre lamented that the Court’s decision was “taking away important constitutional rights that have been in place for a long time”:

“I know the American people are really tracking this, as they should be. The Dobbs [abortion] decision, that was something that was decided on a year ago, really took away the freedoms from women. I think about abortion, I think about reproductive rights. And that was unprecedented. Now, you fast forward to what we saw last week, affirmative action, again, taking away important constitutional rights that have been in place for a long time. Let’s not forget the president was, when he was a senator, he was the chair of the Judiciary Committee, he is an expert on this. He understands how this works. A lot of these unprecedented decisions that this SCOTUS has made, they have been held up in the past by Republicans, by Democrats, right? And so, there [are] so [many] changes that have happened in the past year, and it is unheard of. It is really wrong what we’ve seen.”

“National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia” after Deadly Hamas Attack Against Israel Sparks Military Conflict

At daybreak on October 7, 2023 — which was the major Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah — the Islamic terror group Hamas carried out a massive, multi-front, surprise attack against Israel, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza into the Jewish state, while dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the Israeli border in a number of locations by air, land and sea. The attack had been planned in conjunction with officers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, along with agents of three other Iran-sponsored terrorist groups. “In an assault of startling breadth,” reported CBS News, “Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip, including towns and other communities as far as 15 miles from the Gaza border. In some places they gunned down civilians and soldiers as Israel’s military scrambled to muster a response.” By October 8, at least 600 Israelis had been killed and 1,800 wounded, making it the deadliest day Israel had seen in decades. Moreover, Hamas took hundreds of Israelis hostage, including dozens who were American citizens, and moved them to the Gaza Strip. The terrorists also paraded Israelis’ mutilated bodies in Gaza, to cheering crowds of Palestinians. By October 19, the official casualty toll in Israel had reached more than 1,400 dead (including at least 32 American) and 4,500 injured.

On November 1, 2023 — after a poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute showed that President Biden’s support among Arab Americans had dropped to 17% since he had voiced support for Israel’s retaliatory war on Hamas — the White House announced the unveiling of the Biden administration’s new “National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia.” Said Jean-Pierre: “For too long, Muslims in America, and those perceived to be Muslim, such as Arabs and Sikhs, have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks and other discriminatory incidents.”

Republican Senator Tom Cotton criticized the Biden initiative in a tweet that said: “After the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and a breakout of pro-Hamas activism on campus, the White House is claiming *Islamophobia* is our top concern.”

And Concordia University Professor Gad Saad stated wryly: “According to the [FBI] director, Jews make up 2.4% of the US population but are the targets of 60% of hate crimes. This is why it is apparently important to fight Islamophobia according to the White House.”

Further Reading

“Karine Jean-Pierre” (Linkedin.com)

Footnotes:

1. Contrary to Jean-Pierre’s claims, evidence of the guilt of the “Central Park Five” was overwhelming.
2. This allegation was based on a claim made by Democrat Senator Dick Durbin, who reported that Trump had used the term in a closed-door meeting with legislators.