*President Joe Biden has promoted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to the senior adviser position.
Jean-Pierre made history in 2022 when she became the first Black woman appointed press, and the first openly gay individual to hold that role. In a 2022 statement, Biden said, “Jill and I have known and respected Karine a long time and she will be a strong voice speaking for me and this Administration.”
According to ABC News, Jean-Pierre would begin the new position “effective immediately” while maintaining her job as press secretary.
A White House official told the outlet that “her promotion shows the faith that Biden has in her, as well as his commitment to having diverse and inter-generational voices guiding him in his decisions.”
Jeff Zients, the president’s chief of staff, said, “Karine has been a trusted advisor 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,” said Jeff Zients, the president’s chief of staff.
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Since taking on her role in May 2022, Jean-Pierre has eneged in numerous confrontations with the press, facing criticism from journalists for evading questions on controversial issues and storming out of the briefing room. Last year, former Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn initiated an effort to remove Jean-Pierre, considering her ineffective as a spokesperson for Biden.
“There was an effort to have some outside folks who Karine knows and trusts talk to her about why leaving last fall [2023] would have made a lot of sense for her and her career,” one source said at the time, New York Post reports.
“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.”
READ MORE: Report: The Unsuccessful Attempt to Remove Karine Jean-Pierre as Biden’s Press Secretary
