Biden regime White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre kicked off her book tour on Monday’s CBS Mornings and CBS Mornings Plus and, unfortunately for her, she did not receive softballs. With the Bari Weiss effect increasingly appearing to take hold, Jean-Pierre was confronted over her deranged claims that it was wrong to force President Biden out of the 2024 race, she never saw Biden in cognitive decline, and that she’s a true independent.
Co-host Tony Dokoupil started with a sense of exasperation that she used her book to be “angry at the people who tried to push him out,” not that Biden ran for a second term:
Even co-host and Democrat donor Gayle King participated, saying she also thought, based on the title, Jean-Pierre would be unsparing in her criticisms of the administration, Instead, King noted, Jean-Pierre wrote a book claiming she never saw anything — even leading up to the fateful June 27, 2024 debate — that gave her pause about Biden’s abilities:
[P]eople said, why didn’t members of his inner circle speak up about what many believe was the apparent decline of — of Joe Biden and you said you’re a member of the inner circle and you never saw the decline. After that I wrote, how? You even write, Karine, you were on the plane with him going to the debate and you didn’t see anything. It is so hard to understand.
Jean-Pierre tried to have it both ways, claiming she “didn’t see him until after the debate even though I was on” Air Force One.
As she so often did at the Briefing Room podium, she had the gall to insist this was a topic she “take[s]...incredibly seriously” because she “saw him practically every day and traveled with him.”
King hit back, wondering again why she “saw nothing.” Jean-Pierre cast his aging as something that occurred, but not to the point it affected his mental faculties: “[W]e’ve always said we are not going to say, oh, he didn’t age. He aged and he poked fun at it. We always owned up and with age comes what happens when you get older.”
“I never saw anyone who wasn’t there. I saw someone who was always engaged. I saw someone who understood policy, pushed us on the policy, and also understood history,” she added with a straight face.
With the time remaining, co-host Nate Burleson gave Jean-Pierre the only air to breathe in either interview by inviting her to explain “what can the Democratic Party do to get out of this timid and even some will say disappointing place” and what she insisted is “too timid.”
Remarkably, Jean-Pierre found a way to mess this up as well by offering a tiresome talking point about “the system” being “broken” and the left in particular should do more to galvanize moments such as Saturday’s No Kings rallies.
In essence, she declared, the Democrat Party isn’t doing enough to fight Donald Trump.
Dokoupil cut in with this biting follow-up that blew holes in her fake move to become independent (which, if she lives in Virginia, doesn’t exist as there isn’t party registration): “Will you create a new party? Is that what you’re angling for?”
Jean-Pierre declared she’s not calling for a third party because “the history of third-party candidates in presidential” has never worked and she’s still “aligned with the values of the Democratic Party.”
CBS Mornings Plus was even more of a disaster as, this time, Dokoupil had MoneyWatch correspondent Kelly O’Grady (formerly of Fox Business) serving as fill-in co-host. Dokoupil dove right in by wondering why she believes “what was reckless was pushing him out,” not that Biden was allowed to seek reelection:
O’Grady joined with a simple question about loyalty and partisanship: “[I]n your book, you talk a lot about how the Republicans were very in lockstep with President Trump. Do you think it’s okay for people to be in lockstep, have unwavering support, even if there are concerns that a lot of people were having?”
This yielded a ludicrous, pants-on-fire response and completely memory-holed Robert Hur:
Dokoupil could not believe the vapidness: “But he was clearly having problems, right? I mean, lots and lots and lots of people who just watching him on video, let alone meeting him, had reported on that. Have you reflected on why there’s this big disconnect between the millions of Americans at home who are watching him and said, I don’t know if he’s all there, and you saying behind the scenes, wow, he was there?”
Jean-Pierre didn’t flinch in declaring the administration was “always honest” and while “there were moments where it showed that he was” aging, she takes such accusations “very seriously” and thus believes nothing was wrong since he would always “debate” and “engage with you.”
“So then, what’s the disconnect here then? Like, is the country just ageist because millions of Americans didn’t think he was up to it? But you’re saying there was nothing there, there,” Dokoupil said in a follow-up.
Jean-Pierre went with the trust-me strategy seeing as she “saw him every single day and had a first account of the President that I understood, and I knew to have cared about this country, understand policy, understand history, and be able to have, again, objectively a very successful couple of years[.]”
Dokoupil and O’Grady wrapped by addressing head-on Jean-Pierre’s farcical claim she’s an independent yet won’t consider voting for Republicans or a third party (click “expand”):
O’GRADY: Before we let you go — independent, you’ve left the party. I’ll admit, as an independent myself, I did read a few, you know, of these passages and go, ehhh, it really feels like you’re setting this up as Democrats versus Republicans. Would you ever vote Republican?
JEAN-PIERRE: No, I would not vote Republican.
O’GRADY: So, are you an independent?
JEAN-PIERRE: Well, no. Here’s the thing. What I’m trying to highlight is the system is — is indeed broken. We need a two-party system that’s functioning, that’s actually functioning in order for our democracy to work. And what’s happening right now is not working. You have millions of people like ourselves who are independent, who cannot participate in that two-party system. And so if that’s happening, there’s something broken. People are not seeing themselves in either of the party, so we have to lean in. I feel like I have to lean in and say, okay, let’s highlight this and figure out how do we fix this? What do we do.
DOKOUPIL: If you’re really an independent, though, how can you rule out a whole party? I mean, presumably, I don’t know where you live. There might be a candidate who’s a Republican who you happen to like in more than the Democrats, right?
JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, look, right now where the Republican Party is in this moment, me, I care about the vulnerable communities out there. Project 2025 is something that they’re touting, and they’re actually ticking off. That’s scary to me. That is really, really scary. I represent many of the communities that are under attack, and even if I didn’t, there has to be humanity and care for people and I’m not seeing that now. If they were to change and — and we — there, you know, turn that around, maybe. But I think there is a — there is a fundamental problem. And I’m talking about —
DOKOUPIL: Yeah.
JEAN-PIERRE: — like, there’s a problem on the Democratic side. There’s no fight. I think they need to be an opposition party. And I see clearly some flaws in the Republican side that scare me, that scare me.
To see the relevant transcripts from October 20, click here (for CBS Mornings) and here (for CBS Mornings Plus).
