Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has unveiled significant insights in her new memoir regarding the challenging final weeks of President Joe Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign. She expressed her doubts about Vice President Kamala Harris’s ability to defeat Donald Trump and linked Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial to his father’s poor debate performance.
In her book, “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” released on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, Jean-Pierre shared her concerns about Harris’s chances in the presidential race. She recounted encountering racism, sexism, and misogyny across the U.S. and at the White House, leading her to believe the country was not ready to elect a Black woman president. “But I wasn’t surprised by the outcome. The truth was, I never really believed Harris could win. I’d been in the body of a Black woman all my life…all my experiences of blistering stares and racist assumptions left me unable to see this country electing a president who looked like me.” She also criticized the Democratic Party for not adequately supporting Harris.
Jean-Pierre provided an insider’s perspective on the June 27, 2024, CNN debate that effectively marked the end of Biden’s presidential campaign. The 51-year-old former press secretary expressed her immediate alarm when Biden began speaking, noting that within 11 minutes, he started stumbling over numbers, confusing trillionaires with billionaires, and losing track mid-sentence.
In her memoir, Jean-Pierre also announced her departure from the Democratic Party, identifying as an Independent. Reports indicate she made this decision public in June 2025, citing her belief that “the two-party system isn’t working” and calling for a shift towards strategic, values-based politics.
She accused fellow Democrats of employing a “firing squad” against the former president. Jean-Pierre noted, “‘You know what? I’m going to become an independent. I don’t think I can stomach being in the Democratic Party anymore.”‘
Jean-Pierre attributed Biden’s subpar performance to several factors, highlighting the emotional strain of his son’s federal weapons trial. Hunter Biden faced conviction in Delaware federal court on three felony gun charges, prosecuted by his father’s Department of Justice. She suggested the trial was a political move that deeply affected Biden, especially with his frequent travels to Europe and the pressures of the upcoming debate.
The memoir detailed the chaotic atmosphere on debate night. “As soon as President Biden opened his mouth at the debate podium, I became worried,” Jean-Pierre wrote. Her phone was inundated with messages from reporters questioning if Biden was ill or had COVID-19. She confessed that she was unaware of Biden’s cold until he started speaking, even though she was focused on the differences between him and Trump.
Jean-Pierre asserted she observed no decline in Biden’s mental sharpness prior to that crucial night. She acknowledged that extensive travel is taxing for any leader, noting that exhaustion from such trips raises concerns about suitability for office. However, she emphasized that Biden’s situation was further complicated by his son’s trial coinciding with his European travel.
The memoir recounted the arduous three weeks leading to Biden’s withdrawal from the reelection race on July 21, 2024. Jean-Pierre testified to House lawmakers last month that senior Biden advisers provided her with talking points on the president’s health and mental acuity for daily briefings. She revealed that, days before the debate, she accused The Post and other outlets of promoting so-called ‘cheap fakes’ by reporting on video footage of a bewildered Biden wandering away from world leaders during the G7 summit.
In September, during testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Jean-Pierre disclosed that the ‘cheap fakes’ line was specifically added to her briefing binder but was unable to identify which senior adviser had placed it there. Following the debate, she and other White House officials insisted Biden would not drop out because that was what she had been told and what she believed at the time.
Jean-Pierre addressed concerns raised by actor George Clooney in a New York Times opinion piece calling for Biden to abandon his campaign, conceding that they were not entirely unjustified. However, she described becoming aware of something ugly surging behind the scenes, with whispers, phone calls, and texts indicating a campaign was underway to push the president out of the race. She indicated she never realized the attack would succeed.
In a July interview with YouTuber Andrew Callaghan, Hunter Biden suggested the sleep aid Ambien used during travel might have contributed, though he later told ABC he didn’t know if it was taken immediately before the debate.
