Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre needs somebody to lean on

• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been criticized for her “unforced stumbles”
• But one thing she cannot be chastised for is her unabashed enthusiasm to share the spotlight
• gov between January 2021 and May 2022, she had at least one listed co-briefer 63 times.

When White House reporters recently gathered in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was almost certainly assisted by a second person fielding questions.

During her first few months on the platform, Jean-Pierre has been chastised for a variety of reasons, including her “unforced stumbles” and tendency to stick to the binder – but one thing she cannot be chastised for is her unabashed enthusiasm to share the spotlight.

Jean-Pierre has had 38 press conferences and gaggles with reporters since the start of her employment on May 16 till the end of last week. She’s received questions 25 times, or roughly 66 percent of the time, with at least one other person joining her at the microphone.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has appeared eight times with Jean-Pierre, while COVID-19 Adviser Dr. Ashish Jha has appeared four times, three of which were during President Biden’s recent coronavirus diagnosis. White House economic adviser Brian Deese has shared the podium with the press secretary twice,

National Security Council official John Kirby has done so five times, and Gender Policy Council executive director Jennifer Klein, economic adviser Jared Bernstein, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, and actor Matthew McConaughey have all appeared at least once with Jean-Pierre.

“Karine believes in providing the White House press corps with access to experts and senior staff who can transparently share the administration’s perspective, as well as outside guests who have specific credibility about issues that are a leading priority for the American people,” Fox News Digital deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said. “We’re proud of that.”

In that way, Jean-tenure Pierre’s has been distinct from that of Jen Psaki, who left the White House in May and received largely positive coverage and reaction from the press corps.

According to a Fox News Digital study, of Psaki’s 240 listed briefings and gaggles at Whitehouse.gov between January 2021 and May 2022, she had at least one listed co-briefer 63 times, or roughly 26% of the time. Many of those were in the early days of the administration, with 30 of her co-briefings taking place alongside Deese, Granholm, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in the first three months of her term.

According to Jeffrey McCall, a DePauw University professor and media critic, “it’s apparent Jean-Pierre has struggled in her capacity as press secretary,” and having a partner on stage could be a hint the administration isn’t confident in her.

“It is not so bad to have binders of notes available, but reading directly from the binders, as she often does, creates weak impressions for a person who is supposed to be speaking on behalf of the administration. Having the administration repeatedly send other spokesmen to the podium would rhetorically signal a lack of confidence in Jean-Pierre’s performance,” McCall stated to Fox News Digital.

“The White House might be better off to just limit the number of Jean-Pierre’s briefings so as to minimize her exposure. At this point, she is just not boosting the administration’s message or clarifying its policies,”   McCall noted, emphasising that she has a  “really tough job these days trying to put a happy spin on so many White House problems”

“But the problems still need clear and sensible explanations, which are not regularly happening,” he stated.

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