Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre broke down in tears during Wednesday’s White House news conference, even as she secretly blocked a rival from speaking during the latest media availability of President Joe Biden’s administration.
She spent several minutes at the briefing thanking her colleagues, her family and the president, noting that this was the administration’s 537th news conference and its 306th briefing.
She said she hoped her visible, public role would be an “inspiration to a lot of young girls out there.”
She also gave a shout out to her daughter Soleil, along with her ex Suzanne Malveaux
“To my sweet, wonderful daughter, you’ve gone too many nights without me being there, without me being there when I went to school and without your mother,” she said, crying.
Noting that she calls her daughter “pudding,” she added, “I can’t wait to spend more time with you pudding.”
She also thanked all her press staff – both past and present – who gathered in the room to attend the final briefing. That list included former press secretary Jen Psaki.
However, there was one notable absence from the room: John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council.
The White House press secretary gave the Biden administration’s final briefing
Kirby usually briefs reporters on foreign affairs but was not on stage to answer questions about the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Jean-Pierre blocked Kirby, her old rival for the podium, from participating, a source familiar told Dailymail.com, because she wanted to keep the attention on herself. Fox News was the first to report the criticism.
The rivalry between Kirby and Jean-Pierre dates back to her first days on the job, when some senior officials quietly expressed concerns that she needed more experience before taking on the role of the government’s public face.
Her experience was as a spokeswoman for MoveOn.org and a political analyst on MSNBC. Psaki, by contrast, had briefed reporters at the State Department on camera and was familiar with the verbal sparsity that comes with the role of a high-profile spokesperson.
So Biden promoted Kirby, then the Pentagon spokesman, to the White House, giving him the job of speaking on international affairs. Kirby, a retired Navy admiral, also had experience as a State Department spokesperson and was a respected voice on foreign affairs.
But the tensions between him and Jean-Pierre were visible from the start. The White House press secretary — the first black woman and openly gay person to hold the job — appeared uncomfortable as Kirby spoke. She floated next to him as he answered questions from the podium.
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki (center in white) attends White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s final press conference on the Biden administration
Karine Jean-Pierre blocked National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby from the government’s latest briefing
Reporters and former White House press staff were busy at the latest briefing
The duo took time to answer questions after the war between Israel and Hamas began 15 months ago. Kirby quickly became a favorite of President Biden and was eventually promoted to Assistant to the President – the same level as Jean-Pierre.
In addition, Kirby had said privately that he would one day want the job of press secretary, and was frustrated that Jean-Pierre had singled out the reporters who questioned him during the briefing. She didn’t do that for National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Kirby’s boss, when he was on stage. Sullivan calls on his own reporters.
Middle East envoy Brett McGurk
Jean-Pierre was asked Thursday why Kirby, the foreign affairs spokesman, was not at the administration’s latest news conference to answer questions about the ceasefire, which is a major achievement for Biden.
She punted, noting that she had said White House Middle East envoy Brett McGurk would hold a briefing call for reporters later on Thursday.
“I just said that Brett McGurk will hold a call and the National Security Council will hold a call. I think that’s going to be very important. They will tell you more about its implementation. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was here two days ago, Monday, and I think he laid out a very good framework for all of this,” she said.
“Brett McGurk, he’s on the ground. He has all the information,” she added. “So he’ll have a lot more information than anyone else here because he’s been on the ground.”
The National Security Council held a telephone briefing for reporters shortly after Jean-Pierre’s press conference.
Reporters were told to refer to the official as a “senior government official” during the phone call.