Joe Biden’s press secretary has a reputation as the least helpful White House press secretary in recent memory. Karine Jean-Pierre never shows up for press conferences prepared to do her job. Instead, she brings a binder with canned talking points. Her response to the Hamas terror offensive against Israel was different.
She was direct and to the point.
Jean-Pierre Condemns ‘The Squad’
Jean-Pierre showed promise with her condemnation of the far-Left members of “The Squad,” the socialist members of Congress including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar, and Cori Bush in the wake of the Hamas invasion of southern Israel.
It marked a rare time in which Jean-Pierre has castigated fellow Democrats.
“I’ve seen some of those statements this weekend, and we’re going to continue to be very clear. We believe they’re wrong, we believe they’re repugnant, and we believe they’re disgraceful,” Jean-Pierre said in reaction to comments made by “Squad” members. “Our condemnation belongs squarely with terrorists who have brutally murdered, raped, kidnapped hundreds, hundreds of Israelis. There can be no equivocation about that. There are not two sides here. There are not two sides.”
Tlaib, the first Palestinian Arab-American to serve in Congress, refused to comment when asked by a Fox News reporter about what she felt about the slaughter of innocent Israelis including infants, while Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Bush took a “both sides” stance.
“I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day,” Tlaib said in a Sunday statement. “I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear, and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity. The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.”
President Joe Biden was uncharacteristically cogent as well, condemning Hamas terrorism without any qualms or equivocation.
Jean-Pierre Fights With Conservative Journalist
Apart from Hamas, her fights with conservative journalists continue.
New York Post reporter Steven Nelson complained that Jean-Pierre had not called on him for two press conferences in a row. Nelson has been a frequent critic of the Biden administration. In June, Nelson shouted at Biden saying, “Why did the Ukraine FBI informant file refer to you as the ‘Big Guy,’ Mr. Biden?”
“You haven’t called on me in two seasons, Karine,” Nelson said.
Jean-Pierre also affirmed that Biden would give Israel whatever it needed.
“[President Joe Biden] is taking action to provide additional support to ensure that Israel … has what they need to defend themselves,” Jean-Pierre added.
Jean-Pierre shot back saying she would not call on him for a third time in a row.
Nelson again refused to budge.
“You should be ashamed of that. That shows disrespect to a free and independent media, to blacklist one of our country’s largest and most widely read newspapers, Karine. That shows contempt for a free and independent press,” Nelson said.
John Rossomando is a defense and counterterrorism analyst and served as Senior Analyst for Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism for eight years. His work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, The National Interest, National Review Online, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award for his reporting.
