Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘She Was Horrible’: Mark Halperin Not Bullish About KJP’s Ability To Sell Her Book

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Political analyst Mark Halperin criticized former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday after news broke that she was leaving the Democratic Party and publishing an upcoming book — which he predicted would flop.

Jean-Pierre on Wednesday announced her upcoming book “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” which is slated for release in October. Halperin, on “2WAY Tonight,” said Jean-Pierre was an awful and unqualified press secretary and should never have taken the job under former President Joe Biden.

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“There’s no doubt that part of the heat she got was because she’s not a white man. Anyone who would argue against that is ridiculous,” Halperin said. “But I would argue that had she been a white man, she would have been laughed at as the worst White House press secretary in years. She was horrible at the job. She shouldn’t have accepted it when she was offered.”

“She should have had the self-awareness to say, ‘I’m just not qualified to do this job.’ And the people who offered her the job, including the president, should be ashamed for themselves and apologize to her for asking her to take a job she was patently not qualified for,” he continued. “Okay?”

Halperin noted that while media outlets are now citing sources who say Jean-Pierre was not competent, those criticisms were largely absent during her time at the podium.

“They rarely wrote about it. And the drama that they all knew about with [National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby], who she wouldn’t let brief, although sometimes he did, because she couldn’t do the national security briefings,” he said. “Again, I’m not saying she’s a bad person. I’m not saying she’s not qualified for any job. She’s not qualified for the job she had.”

Halperin compared the media’s shift in tone on Jean-Pierre to its belated acknowledgment of Biden’s cognitive decline.

“And today, just as the press is suddenly saying what was apparent to everyone — that Joe Biden had too much of a loss of cognitive decline to be president — now they’re happy to say that,” he said. “Covered it up, the whole administration.”

“Same thing with her. Now they’re happy to say, ‘Well, lots of people didn’t think she was up for the job.’ Back then, they acted like she was Mike McCurry and Ari Fleischer rolled into one. I mean, it is shameful,” he continued. “And I would love to know how many books they’re printing, because they’re going to be returning almost all of them. I can’t imagine who the constituency is.”

During Biden’s presidency, Jean-Pierre defended his fitness as worries regarding his deterioration mounted. Just weeks before Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race, she decried videos of him appearing lost and wandering off as “cheap fakes,” asserting they were manipulated to cast doubt on his acuity.

Jean-Pierre also repeatedly assured reporters that Biden would not pardon his son Hunter, which he ultimately did.