Former Intelligence director Ric Grenell accused White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre of being an ‘identity politics’ hire unqualified for her job Wednesday on Newsmax.
Grenell said the media caters to identity politics by refusing to cover Jean-Pierre’s performance as press secretary because of her race and gender.
“I got to go back to the fact that this White House press secretary is terrible. And yet we won’t talk about it in the media or in Washington D.C. because she’s black and lesbian,” Grenell said. “And I want to be very clear, this is outrageous. She is not up to the job, she is spinning, she doesn’t know what she’s doing and I’m tired of people dancing around this identity politics stuff when she isn’t qualified to be the White House press secretary. She is speaking on behalf of Americans at the White House and she is so partisan and so inept. I’m sorry, but we got have a media that holds her to account and they are not holding her to account.”
Jean-Pierre touted her background as a “black gay, immigrant woman” on her first day at the podium. She got the job in May after former White House press secretary Jen Psaki stepped down to take a job at MSNBC.
“I am obviously acutely aware that my presence at this podium represents a few firsts. I am a black, gay, immigrant woman. The first of all three of those to hold this position,” Jean-Pierre said. “I would not be here today if it were not for generations of barrier-breaking people before me. I stand on their shoulders. If it were not for generations of barrier-breaking people before me, I would not be here,” she continued, adding that she is “forever grateful to them.”
Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said in early July that the press secretary was “not set up to succeed” as President Joe Biden’s approval ratings plummet.