While former President Joe Biden was celebrating an end to his cancer treatment and back to riding his favorite Amtrak train this week, his former staffers were eating their own as they reacted to salacious claims made by his former mouthpiece.
Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre charged in her new book that an unnamed top female White House aide had tried to sabotage her time at the podium.
Jean-Pierre even suggested that the woman – identified by the New York Post as senior adviser Anita Dunn – treated her worse than her white colleagues.
‘I wasn’t the only woman on the White House staff who had negative experiences with this person. She had spoken dismissively to female members of the administration, especially those who were also people of color,’ Jean-Pierre wrote in Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.
‘A white woman once said to me that it was uncomfortable being on emails with her and witnessing her tone and the way she addressed women of color,’ she added.
Those allegations immediately lit up the Bidenworld group chat, one former aide told the Daily Mail, who declined to be named.
‘That particular piece went around the group chats because, well quite frankly, it was the only interesting part,’ the aide said, adding that ‘the borderline racial undertones was the shocking part.’
The aide, who is a black woman, said she never experienced racist treatment from Dunn.
Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, photographed on Capitol Hill last month, made controversial comments about Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn, without using her name, in her new book
The Daily Mail obtained a photograph of former President Joe Biden, carrying his own briefcase, at the Wilmington, Delaware Amtrak station after concluding his cancer treatment earlier this week
‘No, in fact I would say, she if anything, because of those minority aspects, took a special interest in making sure my voice was heard,’ the aide said. ‘This is – again – the woman who pushed for Karine to get the job in the first place. She was the driving force. She is the reason Karine got to be behind the podium.’
Other Biden aides also defended Dunn.
‘I did not think Anita was racist, and it was my understanding that Anita supported [Jean-Pierre] being elevated to press secretary in the first place,’ a white male aide said.
If Dunn soured on Jean-Pierre, sources suggested it was thanks to the press secretary’s performance.
‘I wish in 2025 we could get past using race as a crutch when you were just bad at your job,’ a white female aide also told the Daily Mail, who made a point to mention that Dunn had elevated women throughout her tenure.
‘The thing about Anita is – if she gives you an opportunity, she expects a deliverable,’ the black female aide added.
Throughout Jean-Pierre’s tenure she was criticized for reading from her briefing book and giving eyebrow-raising responses when Biden had done things like asking ‘Where’s Jackie?’ about a dead congresswoman and alleging that his uncle had been eaten by cannibals.
Jean-Pierre maintained in her book that her response related to Biden asking for the late Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski – that she was ‘top of mind’ – was honest.
In her book Karine Jean-Pierre singled out former Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn, pictured in January. Without using her name, Jean-Pierre alleged that Dunn exhibited racist behavior, tried to keep her from going to Israel and smeared her name in the press
She also argued that it was appropriate for her to accompany the president to Israel and Jordan in the direct aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack.
Jean-Pierre wrote that things came to a head with Dunn – who she didn’t name throughout the book, though Daily Mail’s sources confirmed was the individual – after Dunn suggested that the press secretary sit this one out.
‘”It will be very dangerous,” she said. “You’re a mother. You’re a woman.” Another colleague, she said, a man who had experience in war-torn regions, could go in my place,’ Jean-Pierre wrote.
When Jean-Pierre protested over email, Dunn came into her office, screamed at her, and slammed the door on the way out, the ex-press secretary recounted.
Dunn had suggested that John Kirby, the National Security Council’s spokesperson, who was the press’ point guy on foreign affairs, go in her place, a source confirmed.
Despite sharing the podium with Kirby throughout her tenure, Jean-Pierre didn’t mention him once in her book.
‘That was one thing we all noted, his name is not mentioned throughout the book and that is a choice to make,’ the aide said.
‘It would make sense for John Kirby to go. He had personal relationships with a lot of the hostage families, had met with them one-on-one, he has a wide breadth of experience on this issue within this region, he made the most sense. Period,’ the aide continued.
Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is photographed Monday in New York as she kicked off her book tour
‘So to read that part was kind of wild for all of us,’ she added.
Beyond the racist undertones, Jean-Pierre also alleged that Dunn was behind a smear campaign against her the press, feeding negative stories to the New York Times, Axios and the New York Post.
The New York Post had reported in April 2024 that Dunn had hatched a plan to try and steer Jean-Pierre toward a graceful exit, so that a better communicator could get Biden through a tough campaign year.
That effort failed, with Jean-Pierre staying on until Biden left office, as a one-term president, in January.
‘I think she has a version of herself that she sees at that podium, and then the rest of us have a different version that we see,’ the black female aide said.
‘I would say it’s a version of somebody who took a job that is really, really hard and maybe it was a frustration with herself, maybe it was a misunderstanding of how much work the job would take, but just couldn’t meet the moment,’ the aide added.
Dunn did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Earlier this week, Ashley Biden (left) shared that her father, former President Joe Biden (center left) had concluded his cancer treatment at Penn Medicine. He was joined by family members: former First Lady Jill Biden (center) and grandkids Finnegan (center right) and Hunter (right)
So far, the 82-year old president also hasn’t chimed in.
A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a top Biden aide.
Earlier this week, daughter Ashley Biden posted to Instagram that her father had finished his cancer treatment at Penn Medicine, alongside former First Lady Jill Biden and grandkids Finnegan and Hunter.
And on Wednesday, the Daily Mail obtained a photograph of Biden enjoying one of his favorite activities – riding the train.
He was spotted at the Wilmington, Delaware, Amtrak station, carrying his own briefcase and surrounded by his Secret Service detail.
