""I had not seen the president because he had been in debate prep," she said. "So the first time I actually heard him speak was while he was debating. So when I heard his voice, I thought to myself, uh oh. He was hoarse. He kind of looked like he was sick.""
""Everything that I've been pushing back on his age, is he fit like automatically anytime he would sneeze or have a runny nose or something would happen, that would be where the questions would go.""
""Joe Biden, objectively, had a very successful four years," she said. "And here we are on the cusp of an election of a lifetime that we all need to get behind our person, and we couldn't do it. Republicans are able to do it and we weren't able to do it.""
Karine Jean‑Pierre served nearly three years as White House press secretary and departed the Democratic Party after reflecting on internal dysfunction and disloyalty. She links the party's inability to rally behind President Biden to the 2024 defeat, arguing that Republicans maintained unity while Democrats did not. The June 2024 debate created damaging optics when Biden sounded hoarse and appeared unwell, intensifying public questions about his fitness. Jean‑Pierre maintained confidence in Biden's ability to serve despite those optics. She identifies party disunity and internal fractures as political liabilities that helped pave the way for the election outcome.
Read at www.npr.org
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