Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reflected on the “shocking” nature of Democratic Party leaders turning against then-President Joe Biden, ultimately pressuring him to step aside from the race at an event this week.
Now, a month into President Donald Trump’s second term, the Democratic Party is still grappling with the fallout from the 2024 election. One of the most contentious moments of the race was the intense push from party leaders and influential figures urging Biden to withdraw his candidacy after his disastrous debate performance last June, Fox News reported.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University, Jean-Pierre was asked to share insights into the challenges she faced during the three weeks following the debate, leading up to Biden’s decision to step down, as well as whether he should have run for reelection in the first place.
“He was the President of the United States at the time, he was the leader of the Democratic Party. It was truly his decision to make on what he wanted to do, and I supported that 100%. Whatever it was, I was going to support that 100%,” she responded. “Because he had the right to, as the leader of the Democratic Party coming out of a pretty successful midterm. There was supposed to be a red wave, there wasn’t a red wave.”
The primary challenge during that three-week period, she stated, arose from other factions within the Democratic Party itself.
“I… look, personally, I think what was the toughest thing to see in the three weeks was there was a disconnect for me [in] what was happening with leadership in the Democratic Party and how it was truly, as my former colleague, communications director Ben Labolt said, it was a firing squad,” Jean-Pierre continued.
“I had never seen anything like it before. I had never seen a party do that in the way that they did, and it was hurtful and sad to see that happening,” the former White House press secretary added. “A firing squad around a person who I believe was a true patriot, a person who I believe did everything that he can for this country. A person who I believe, as I mentioned before, has done more in one term than most presidents had done in two terms, historical things, and I was shocked by what I was seeing.”
When pressed by another panelist, Jean-Pierre confirmed that she was referring to Democratic leaders who had publicly criticized Biden, emphasizing how “shocking” the turn of events was at the time.
“Instead of coming together to really be unified and trying to figure out how do we save our democracy how do we fight back, that’s what I was seeing,” she said. “That’s what we decided to do for three weeks, and, you know, it was truly, truly unfortunate, and I think it hurt us more than I think folks realized, to have done that.”
That said, according to a report earlier this month, Biden was protected by those closest to him who knew he was faltering as president.
Citing sources, The New York Times reported that Biden’s aides saw that he was not the same as he was a few years before and that they worked to protect him as best they could.
“The people closest to President Biden were well aware that he had changed. He talked more slowly than he had just a few years before, needed to hoist himself out of his seat in the presidential limousine and walked with a halting gait,” the report began.
His longtime aide, Mike Donilon, reportedly told the president in 2022 that his “biggest issue is the perception of age.”
The Times reported that aides “recognized his physical frailty to a greater degree than they have publicly acknowledged. Then they cooperated, according to interviews with more than two dozen aides, allies, lawmakers and donors, to manage his decline.