Tipsheet

Karine Jean-Pierre's Biggest Briefing Blunders of 2022

Spencer Brown
Spencer Brown  |  December 27, 2022 2:00 PM

In May of this year, President Biden and then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that Karine Jean-Pierre would take over as the president's spokesperson. In the seven or so months since then, Jean-Pierre has logged a significant number of noteworthy briefings. Whether denying the economic reality felt by Americans, refusing to answer questions about pressing crises, having a few Biden-esque gaffes of her own, completely contradicting herself, or losing her cool and snapping at reporters, here — in no particular order — are a few of Jean-Pierre's biggest briefing blunders in 2022. 

On the economy, Americans saw a White House in denial that things were (and still are) going poorly. Using cherry-picked data and charts that exclude the full range of Biden's presidency, Karine Jean-Pierre struggled against reality to argue that business was booming and everything was great.

Claiming "life-changing economic gains" after the U.S. had entered a technical recession and Americans' real wages were down more than three percent was just one of many times this year Jean-Pierre tried to convince Americans what they were seeing and feeling wasn't actually happening.

Not only were the White House press secretary's claims untrue, they were exasperating to Americans who saw inflation surge to 40-year highs, gas prices break all-time records, and interest rates make managing debt even more difficult. But reality be damned, Jean-Pierre pressed on.  

While Americans watched their 401(k) balances shrink as a result of stock markets' downward roller coaster ride, Biden's spokesperson said that his administration wasn't even keeping a regular eye on markets:

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However, less than one month later on June 13, Jean-Pierre would say the opposite and claim the White House was "watching closely" as stocks tanked. We still don't know which is true, thanks to KJP's contradictory claims about how the White House is monitoring economic indicators. 

It wasn't just the economy, either. Amid repeated crises that came as a result of the Biden administration's policies and leaders, Jean-Pierre was not exactly a forthcoming source of information as Americans awaited answers:

There was more of the same nonsense later in the year as a nationwide railroad strike loomed and Karine Jean-Pierre missed the memo that President Biden was *not* supposed to be tied to the failed negotiations that led the White House to beg Congress to roll labor unions in order to avoid the strike. 

As much as what Jean-Pierre said in briefings this year that made for some absurd moments, it's what she often did *not* say that also was notable. One such moment came ahead of the one year anniversary of Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and the date that 13 U.S. service members were killed in an ISIS-K suicide bombing attack at the gates of the airport in Kabul. When asked how Biden would be remembering the tragedy, Jean-Pierre decided to launch into shameful bragging about how great Biden's withdrawal was and say that it was an example of the president working to save lives:

Perhaps the best example of her know-nothing posture came after the Biden DOJ's raid of Mar-a-Lago, after which the president's spokesperson refused to say anything in response to questions about what Biden knew about or thought of the unprecedented step of sending the FBI to raid the former president's home. 

In addition to refusing to provide answers of pressing issues or denying reality, Karine Jean-Pierre also channeled her boss a bit too well a few times this year, including a recent episode that saw her snap at a reporter, grab her book, and cut her briefing short by storming out of the room. 

That instance wasn't the only time Jean-Pierre lost her cool in a briefing, either:

We get it, it's not easy having to answer for the mess that the Biden administration was in 2022, but that's her job. 

In addition to the substantive issues with the content and tone of Jean-Pierre's briefings, there were somewhat lighter bloopers this year, including some frazzled mispronunciations that were also a bit Biden-esque.

For example, we still don't know how Americans have been coping after Russia took "Nordstrom 1" out of commission: 

Nor are we sure who chooses winners of the "noble" prize:

We would, however, like to learn more about the tasty sounding "bicarmel" support she mentioned this month: