A spokesman for former Vice President Mike Pence hit back at White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s accusations of homophobia.
Pence joked at the annual Gridiron Dinner Saturday night that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg “took maternity leave” after he and his husband Chasten adopted twin infants in 2021, and that the U.S. suffered postpartum depression from the airline emergencies. Jean-Pierre told The Washington Blade, a pro-LGBTQ outlet, that Pence’s joke was “homophobic” and “offensive.”
“The former vice president’s homophobic joke about Secretary Buttigieg was offensive and inappropriate, all the more so because he treated women suffering from postpartum depression as a punchline,” the press secretary said.
Pence’s former Chief of Staff Marc Short said the White House should drop the “faux outrage” about Pence’s joke and accused President Joe Biden’s administration of “hypocrisy.”
“The Biden administration should spare America the faux outrage. The hypocrisy is especially rich considering their own Secretary of State Antony Blinken joked that he yearned for ‘the old days’ when ‘Jews did all the work,'” Short said. “The White House would be wise to focus less on placating the woke police and focus more on bank failures, planes nearly colliding in mid-air, train derailments, and the continued supply chain crisis.”
The White House would be wise to focus less on placating the woke police and focus more on bank failures, planes nearly colliding in mid-air, train derailments, and the continued supply chain crisis.
— Marc Short (@marctshort) March 13, 2023
Pence attended the event to represent Republicans alongside Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who represented the Biden administration. The three each made humorous jokes during the event, which are traditionally made by the event’s participants. (RELATED: CBS Reporter Trips Up Karine Jean-Pierre Over Document Scandal)
The former vice president also told the audience that former President Donald Trump “endangered [his] family” during the Capitol riot On Jan. 6, 2021. The former president attempted to convince Pence to reject the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, and falsely said Pence had the power to do so.
“Make no mistake about it, what happened that day was a disgrace,” Pence said at the event. “And it mocks decency to portray it any other way.”