*History was made inside of the White House briefing room today as principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stepped to the podium and delivered her first official press briefing. In doing so, she becomes the first-ever openly gay woman and the second Black woman to address the White House press corp.
“I appreciate the historic nature. I really do,” Jean-Pierre said when asked about the rarity of a Black woman i her position. “But I believe that being behind this podium, being in this room, being in this building isn’t about one person. It’s about what we do on behalf of the American people. Clearly the president believes representation matters, and I appreciate him giving me this opportunity.”
“This is not about me. This is not about any of us. And anytime I’m behind here … we are going to be truthful, we’re going to be transparent, and that’s the way I believe the president would want us to communicate to the American people,” she added.
Watch below:
Watch below:
Jean-Pierre, 43, previously worked on the 2012 Obama campaign. The daughter of Haitian immigrants, she worked at the progressive group MoveOn and as an analyst on MSNBC before joining the Biden campaign last year to serve as a top aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, then a candidate.
The last time Jean Pierre made headlines was in June 2019, when she jumped in between Harris and a protester in San Francisco who had bum-rushed the stage and grabbed the then-Senator’s mic during a MoveOn event.
Jean-Pierre is married to CNN contributor Suzanne Malveaux. The first Black woman to deliver a White House press briefing was Judy Smith, who did so in 1991 as deputy press secretary for then-President George H.W. Bush. She later became the inspiration for Kerry Washington’s role of political fixer Olivia Pope in ABC’s “Scandal.”
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