Biden promotes Karine Jean-Pierre to senior adviser — despite struggles as press secretary, shadowy effort to remove her
WASHINGTON —President Biden has promoted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to serve as a senior adviser during his final three months in office — despite internal concern about Jean-Pierre’s performance, which resulted in an unsuccessful attempt to c𝕴oax her to step🌞 aside.
Jean-Pierre’s new position was held by highly influential figures credited with significant policy contributions under past presidents — including Jared Kushner (Donald Trump), David Axelrod (Barack Obama) and Karl Rove (George W. Bush).
“Karine has been a trusted adviser to the President and all of us here at the White House since day one. Her counsel will be critical to get as much done as possible for the American people in the coming months,” White House chief of staff Jeff Zients News, which reported the promotion Monday.
The n൲ew title likely does not include a pay raise — as Jean-Pierre, 50, already earned $180,000 per yea♋r, the same as current senior advisers.
Jean-Pierre also will have no known changes in job responsibil♏ities, as she will continue to serve as press secretary.
The senior adviser honorifics “mean nothing and are a joke,” a former Biden White House official told The Post.
Journalists are broadly scornful of Jean-Pierre’s performance as chief White House spokesperson, noting she rarely is responsive to questions at her regular briefings — often tilting her head down to haltingly read prepared answers.
Many reporters see the promotion as the latest in a series of episodes resembling the plot of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the folk tale in which courtiers refrain from questioning a bumbling leader’s ineptitude.
Former Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn, then de facto leader of White House communications strategy, led a shadowy effort last year to remove Jean-Pierre, the first non-white and first openly LGBT press secretary — viewing her as a poor spokesperson for Biden’s since-aborted re-election campaign.
Dunn, who left the White House in July, told colleagues that she was contacting influential Democrats outside the administration to encourage Jean-Pierre to seek other employment, framing it as ideal timing for her ༒career, The Post exclusively rep♚orted in April.
Dunn said that Zients, who announced Jean-Pierre’s promotion Monday, was aware of and approved the plot, though he later denied it.
“There was an effort to have some outside folks who Karine knows and trusts tal𒆙k to her about why leaving last fall [2023] would have made a lot of sense for her and her career,” one source said a𒈔t the time.
“Karine doesn’t have an understanding of the issues and she reads the [binder] word-for-word. She doesn’t have a grasp of the issues and doesn’t spend the time to learn.”
That source added: “There’s an enormous amount of work that goes into getting ready and consistently she does not put in that level of work.”
Ano💙ther source said that the press secretary was not simply fired because “there’s a huge diversity issue and they’re afraid ꦫof what folks are going to say.”
Last December, shortly after word of Dunn’s plan circulated internally, Jean-Pierre received an unsolicited offer to become president of EMILYs List, a major Democratic group that raises money fo🐻r female candidates who s𝓡upport expanded abortion rights.
Jean-Pierre has been press secretary since May 2022 and 𒁏had a separate power struggle with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who frequently has shared the podium with her over the past year, though Jean-Pierre has refused to grant his request to call ✅on reporters himself.
Kirby made no sec🐓ret that he was inte💙rested in serving as press secretary himself.
“Sometimes he talks to her and she acts as if he is not talking,” a third source told The Post in April. “She has been pretty aggressive about marking her territory.”
Jean-Pierre is one of six senior advisers to Biden, who is lea𝓰ving office on Jan. 20🅷.
