Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described Democrat leaders’ public rejection of then-President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 election as a “firing squad,” expressing shock at how quickly the party turned against him. Speaking at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics on Wednesday, she reflected on the weeks following Biden’s disastrous debate performance, which exposed his cognitive decline and led to widespread calls for him to step down.
Biden ultimately withdrew from the race, and Democrat leadership replaced him with then-Vice President Kamala Harris without input from voters. Jean-Pierre defended Biden’s right to seek a second term, arguing that as the leader of the Democratic Party, the decision should have been his alone. She pointed to the lack of a Republican “red wave” in the midterms as proof of his political effectiveness.
Jean-Pierre recalled the sudden shift in party support as unprecedented and painful to watch. “It was a firing squad around a person who I believe was a true patriot,” she said. “I had never seen anything like it before. I had never seen a party do that in the way that they did.” She insisted that Biden accomplished more in one term than most presidents do in two, making the backlash even more difficult to comprehend.
She also criticized Democrat leadership for failing to unify during the crisis, arguing that instead of rallying together, they turned on Biden at a critical moment. “Instead of coming together to really be unified and trying to figure out how do we save our democracy, how do we fight back, that’s what I was seeing,” she said. “It was truly, truly unfortunate, and I think it hurt us more than folks realized.”
Jean-Pierre’s comments highlight lingering divisions within the Democratic Party as it struggles to redefine its leadership and strategy following Biden’s exit from the race.
