Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden's former press secretary, reveals she's left the Democratic Party

[demmiblue]

(CNN) – Karine Jean-Pierre, who served as White House press secretary under former President Joe Biden, has switched her party affiliation to independent, according to a publishing company’s description of her forthcoming book.

Jean-Pierre, who has worked in Democratic politics for decades, is set to release a new book that will discuss Biden’s decision to bow out of the 2024 election and encourage voters to look beyond the two-party political system. The description of her book, titled Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” says she “didn’t come to her decision to be an Independent lightly.”

The book, which will be released in October, will examine “the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision,” according to a book description from Legacy Lit, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

That suggests Jean-Pierre’s book may further fuel the intraparty argument over whether Biden should have sought reelection given his age and questions about his mental acuity. Biden dropped out of the race last summer after a disastrous debate performance, making way for former Vice President Kamala Harris, who eventually lost to President Donald Trump.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/04/politics/karine-jean-pierre-biden-book

[Callie1979]

1. Well, this should be an interesting thread. nt

[Silent Type]

2. Unfortunately, we'll likely see more of that. Guess we'll bash/shun her now.

[Cirsium]

14. Um...

She is apparently bashing/shunning us.

[Silent Type]

16. Not my take. Though, eating our own seems to be at pandemic levels right now.

[Cirsium]

17. Quitting the party?

A former White House press secretary under a Democratic party administration is leaving the Democratic party?

[k_buddy762]

18. This is how it goes

When folks leave, they are demonized and ridiculed. There is no introspection.

She toed the line better than anyone else I have seen in my lifetime. Why did she leave now? How long has she been planning to move to Independent? What can I learn from her?

Unpopular questions are unpopular.

[efhmc]

3. At first I thought she might truly feel that she was betrayed. But now I think it is just about making money.

Really need all of these people to just go away.

[Nixie]

53. Exactly. Look at me! I hate Democrats, too!

Now buy my book.

[BlueTsunami2018]

4. I hope she's defending President Biden in this.

And left the party because of their disloyalty to him.

[LudwigPastorius]

8. Hard to tell with a subtitle like "A Look Inside A Broken White House..."

Also, I can't see how abandoning the only viable political opposition to actual goddamn fascists is anything but wrongheaded.

[Tree Lady]

50. That could be a title to grab people's

attention. Hopefully she is mad at way Joe was treated not ready to burn us all.

[msfiddlestix]

5. The timing of her "revealing" this decision to the public is extremely weird not to mention obviously self-serving,

really surprises me. My esteem for her has diminished greatly.
I feel like people care more about their personal fortunes rather than thinking about leading the country forward, regardless of identity politics, personal affiliations or party realignment.

This is emblematic of where we are as a country now. Personal Fortunes always dominated but now it's off the charts, I suppose in the age of dystopia, something like this should not have surprised me, none the less, it did .

[Quiet Em]

6. Anyone who has been listening to Black women since election night should not be surprised.

Black women are in self preservation mode. Their priority is to support and uplift each other. I don't blame them.

[Jit423]

10. And why shouldn't a black woman insider make money off a book? White men and women do it all the time with great flurry

I bet this book will be among the most truthful and complete looks inside the Biden administration. And I hope she takes the press to the mats for they way they treated her. I hope she truthfully tells it all!

[Quiet Em]

12. I have no doubt it will be very insightful

I have a lot of respect for her and I look forward to reading what she has to say.

[CrispyQ]

28. This white boomer woman changed to unaffiliated when Biden said he thought he would have won.

It was the final straw for me, after months of listening to so many other dems pile on Harris & her campaign & what she should have done & didn't, or did do & shouldn't have, & what issues she should have blah blah blah blah blah the same old fucking shit. Biden didn't say any of that, but IMO he would have lost by more. A lot more. Anyway, I'll vote dem but no more money. OMG, the texts for $$$ were relentless.

[Maru Kitteh]

36. +1.

I love Biden, and I agree, he would have lost by even more. I love him, but he should have declined to run again in 2023. It was a mistake for him to run again. It’s heartbreaking.

[brush]

37. Agreed. With a decent two-year campaign with our deep bencn...

we would've beaten the convict going away.

[WarGamer]

62. +100

[madville]

7. Gotta throw gas on the fire

While it’s still burning I guess, not gonna get a lucrative book deal in a couple of years when people have moved on. They messed up not beating the release of Tapper’s book though, interest in the topic will wane with each subsequent release.

[MagickMuffin]

9. "encourage voters to look beyond the two-party political system"

Ah the 3rd parties out there are not viable to win General Elections. That’s just the fact.

There are so many yet they never seem to run for other offices, just the presidential ones.

The Green Party, Jill Stein only crawls out from under her Putin bunker to ruin the chances of the Democrats. I’ve never seen the Green Party on any of my local elections.

The Libertarian Party at least runs in state elections.

And the rest of the 3rd party’s out there they will never make it to a national election.

[SocialDemocrat61]

13. Speaking of Stein, where is she?

Has she been organizing and leading protests to oppose Trump? Has she been raising money to aid the families of people deported without due process? Has she been coordinating relief efforts to help people in Gaza?

Anyone know what she’s been up to?

[brush]

38. She doesn't materialize every four years until it's time to run and take votes from Dens...

to help rethugs win. Gotta get those bucks from mystery donors.

[womanofthehills]

47. She's posting a lot on Twitter about the Freedom Flotilla and the genocide in Gaza & the starving kids

I'm glad to see at least she is pro Palestine!

JILL Stein on Twitter -"Keep your bloody hands off the Freedom Flotilla! We're watching you, Israel."

And she posted a video of the horrific Matt Miller saying he always believed Israel committed war crimes but he could not say it when he was at the podium... WOW!!!!!

[SocialDemocrat61]

49. Wow Posting on Twitter

I’m so impressed

[betsuni]

63. Strongly worded tweets and strongly worded speeches, anything strongly worded is fabulous.

Unless it's Democratic Leadership then it's mocked.

[Ursus Rex]

24. Anyone who is interested in that should redouble their efforts to get ranked-choice voting established nationally.

Versus writing a book where you shit on your former boss and the institution that made you.

[vanlassie]

43. Whoa. You aren't referring to Jean-Pierre?

[CousinIT]

26. "Libertarians" - Republicans who don't want to admit it. I have them in my family. They are MAGA..

....white and male-supremacist.

There's no daylight between them and MAGAGOP.

[W_HAMILTON]

64. Fuck three and four parties -- let's have 150+ million parties!

Oh wait -- we already sort of do.

Each of us voters are our own personal political party.

Odds are we won't agree on every single thing with anybody.

But we cannot accomplish anything as one person in our system of government.

Therefore we coordinate with those most like us who share most of our ideals so that we can gain the majority needed to make the positive political change that we want to see.

And that's why we have two main political parties.

You can divide the electorate up into three parties, but guess what? Those three parties are going to have to still end up coming together somehow if they want to enact policy. Or you could have four parties, but guess what? Same thing. Or you could have 150+ million parties, but guess what? You got it -- same thing.

It's not like a new political party is going to magically create new voters so that they don't have to align with either Republicans or Democrats -- if they ever actually amount to anything, they will do so because a significant portion of Republicans or Democrats joined them. But then what is the point? You are still ultimately going to have to come together with those that you want to break apart from. So you waste time and fuck up our democracy even more, just to end up where we already are.

I thought Jean-Pierre was smarter than this, but I guess not.

[milestogo]

11. Has she found a better party?

Can't wait to hear about it.

[womanofthehills]

48. She could be doing a Bernie thing

Hopefully, an Independent who sides with Dems

[Prairie Gates]

15. This should go well

[BannonsLiver]

19. Looks like her time as a DU darling is over.

The party is up to its elbows in problems right now. We have people who think doubling down on the 2024 failures and mistakes will surely lead to success the next time, which is totally delulu. I’m interested in hearing what she has to say especially since, you know, SHE WAS ACTUALLY THERE.

[Celerity]

21. a sign for the double-downers

[k_buddy762]

31. This is the correct take.

[True Dough]

58. I hope

she uses the word "delulu" multiple times in her book. That'll show 'em!

[MorbidButterflyTat]

66. Right?

Hip internet slang meme du jour.

[UTUSN]

20. So as an Independent, how many Rethugs who aren't racist & anti-LGBTQ will she find to support?

[taxi]

25. Some find facts and truth to be very different.

The fact that a rethug is a rethug, and a true rethug will never vote for a lesser rethug is an untruth to some.

[Cha]

41. Damn Good Question.

🕯️🕊️💙🌈🌊

[misanthrope]

22. It is possible for several things to be true all at once

Joe Biden did a good job as POTUS. The way we weathered the pandemic-related economic turmoil as compared to the rest of the world shows it. A great part of that performance were the people hired to staff his administration.

Joe Biden should have been aware that at his age, rapid decline in mental or physical state becomes a greater and greater likelihood with each year. It is just a fact of life and anyone who has experience with aging family members or friends can attest to it. We've all seen it. We've also seen how frailties large or small become magnified in the public eye.

Biden has always been characterized by a certain degree of hubris, to go along with his better qualities. That made it unsurprising when he decided to run for office again. As hindsight reveals, it was an unwise choice.

As an insider who had to go out and run point for Biden while witnessing the political machinations involved in getting him to withdraw, Karine Jean-Pierre is likely jaundiced about it. It is never pretty and most of us might likely have the same feelings.

Would Biden have been a better POTUS right now than Trump? Undoubtedly. His staffing moves and their performance alone shows as much. However, his flaws as a figurehead created this and those superficialities matter in the modern political landscape.

[demmiblue]

23. Karine Jean-Pierre is leaving the Democratic Party. Her former White House colleagues have some thoughts.

One former official recalled that Jean-Pierre had joked about becoming an independent even while on the job in the Biden White House, an off-key comment for someone ostensibly serving as a major messenger for the Democratic Party. Another former official said that Jean-Pierre had begun working during the Biden administration with a New York-based publicist and had copied that person on official emails before some of Jean-Pierre’s White House colleagues intervened.

While it’s unclear how she will portray Biden or her time in the White House in the book, titled “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” several former colleagues expressed confusion at how Jean-Pierre seemingly intends to paint Biden as a victim while pinning her own decision to leave the party on his “broken” White House.

A New York-based publicist, Gilda Squire, worked informally with Jean-Pierre while she was in the White House and was, on multiple occasions, copied on official emails before staffers raised the issue, another former official said. Squire previously served as publicity director for HarperCollins Publishers and also did PR for Penguin Putnam Publishing, according to her LinkedIn. And Jean-Pierre was the subject of several lengthy profiles in lifestyle publications, including Vogue and Women’s Health and traveled to New York to appear on The View.

According to two of the former officials, Jean-Pierre had been hoping for a post-White House job as a co-host on the show, following the template of her predecessor, Jen Psaki, who departed the job after just more than a year for an anchor job at MSNBC.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/04/karine-jean-pierre-leaving-democratic-party-00385060

[hatrack]

29. She thought she was gonna be on the tee-vee!! Now it all becomes clear!!

[UpInArms]

27. Everyone wants to keep their 15 minutes of fame going

am just weary of the whole shittery

[BeyondGeography]

30. "A Look Inside a Broken White House"?

Plus the party ID change reflected in the book title. She’s really swinging for the financial fences, bless her pure non-partisan heart.

[Blue Spark]

32. Wow, I thought that Karine Jean-Pierre and

Jen Psaki both did a great job as press secretaries. Tha has to be one of the toughest jobs out there.

[GP6971]

57. Actually quite a bit.

[Rhiannon12866]

56. Same here!

And welcome to DU!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

69. Welcome to DU

[Sympthsical]

33. Huh. Interesting.

[Celerity]

60. the best Jason Momoa gif

[hamsterjill]

34. Another Tapper?

She’s married to Suzanne Malveaux, who is a former CNN reporter.

Guess we will have to wait and see.

[True Dough]

59. Did not know this

Just looked up Suzanne Malveaux. Vaguely remember her. Turns out she's 58 years old, about 5 years older than I am, yet she looks about 10 years younger.

What am I doing wrong???

[hamsterjill]

65. I've always thought Malveaux was strikingly beautiful.

I feel your pain! I've always looked older than I am. If you find out what we are doing wrong, please let me in on the secret! Wrinkle creams don't work!!! LOL

Have a great evening.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

39. We can throw her under the bus or we can listen to her.

If you don't think she represents a lot of people and gives insight into why we lost the last election, you're kidding yourself. If our messaging remains the same that is has in the past, we are going to lose again. We need to be better and not just shoot the messenger.

[obamanut2012]

40. Please read the reason -- it's because people tried to force Biden out

I think this book is ill-timed and unnecessary, but it isn't a Biden hit job the way more folks think.

[TommyT139]

52. That was my take, too.

But we won't really know until October, I guess.

[Autumn]

42. I look forward to reading her book. I trust her to be truthful and fair.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

44. Here is a good interview explaining her decision

I am also not happy with how some treated President Biden

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

51. +1

[True Dough]

61. Thanks for that clip.

It was very enlightening. Some people made the wrong assumption in this thread. KJP is clearly not coming out swinging at Joe.

[Mysterian]

45. The Democratic party put her face on TV every day

so she could go make a lot of money wherever the wind blows. Pathetic.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

46. OFFS

"That suggests Jean-Pierre’s book may further fuel the intraparty argument over whether Biden should have sought reelection..."

I get the whole manufactured drama to boost book sales but jeez...GET OVER IT.

It's over, MOVE ON.

[kelly1mm]

67. I will NEVER forgive Nancy Pelosi For calling for President Biden to make a decision on staying in the

race 4 days after he delivered a PUBLIC 'Dear Collogues' Letter saying that he was staying in the race.

He ALREADY made a decision. Nancy just didn't like it.

[Norrrm]

54. Is it just a temporary attention seeking action that turns out to be a big letdown and then forgotten?

[H2O Man]

68. Recommended.

Reading through the responses here, there are some who did not read the OP close enough.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

70. Karine Jean Pierre is leaving because they treated President Biden like shit

Link to tweet

Here is a good interview that explains her decision

Link to tweet

I am also not happy with how some treated President Biden

[fujiyamasan]

71. Strike when the iron is hot!

Make hay when the sun shines!

Add any number of other cliches.

Good for her, make a few bucks while this Biden “cover up” is at its peak. Cash out and maybe she can get hired as a “consultant”at some point.

I guess we may as well get her perspective too, but I’m amused by the dramatic “leaving the party” shtick. Not sure what reaction she expects and the reality is she’s a lot less influential than she suspects.