Conservative Republicans stay coming for White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Back in June, ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson hurled a series of insults her way, calling her “the dumbest, nastiest, most dishonest” person that President Joe Biden could find for the job.
Name-calling, while disrespectful, is something that comes with the job. But this time, they took it too far when they tried to go after her pockets.
Representative Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) introduced an amendment to reduce Jean-Pierre’s salary to $1. But it didn’t get the backing it needed to pass, as 54 Republicans sided with all Democrats against the decision to dock the Press Secretary’s pay.
Tenney tried to make her case on the House floor today, accusing Jean-Pierre of lying to the American people, “acting in a condescending manner,” and violating the Hatch Act.
Passed in 1939, the Hatch Act is a federal law put in place to prevent partisan political activity on the part of government employees. Tenney cited Jean-Pierre’s use of the phrase “MAGA Republicans,” as her justification for the violation.
The New York Republican also threw in an allegation of antisemitism based on Jean-Pierre’s initial refusal to condemn people removing posters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas when asked by NBC News’ Peter Alexander this week. The Press Secretary later issued a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, condemning the actions of those tearing down the pictures as “wrong and hurtful.”
It shouldn’t be lost on us that Jean-Pierre is the first Black and openly gay White House Press Secretary in history. And while the current state of politics in our country has folks stooping to a whole new level of disrespect, House Republicans should know that the last thing in the world you want to do is mess with a Black woman’s paycheck.