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‘Opposition party’: Karine Jean-Pierre, press secretary under Biden, on why she left the Democratic Party

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBlCBCTSnAw[/embed]

The Democratic Party continues to reel from President Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory and the Republican Party’s total command of all three branches of government.

There have been several books written about what happened in the days before and after former President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump — his eventual withdrawal from the race and the ill-fated campaign of then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

There’s also a lot of hand-wringing among Democrats about what to do next to oppose the Trump administration.

One insider in the Biden White House has gone a big step further than just criticism. Former Biden White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she has left the Democratic Party and is now an independent.

She details why in her new book, “Independent — A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.” Jean-Pierre joined WTOP’s Sarah Jacobs and Shawn Anderson in-studio on Tuesday afternoon to discuss her new book about her time in the White House.

She criticized the Democratic Party’s lack of strategy and leadership, particularly in handling  Biden’s 2024 campaign. Jean-Pierre defended Biden’s mental acuity and criticized the timing and manner of his removal from the race.

Jean-Pierre did a full interview with WTOP’s “Books Brother” Terik King — that will air this weekend on The Book Report.

Read and listen to the interview below.

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

US Rep. Julia Letlow, endorsed by Trump, wins the GOP primary for Senate in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Louisiana on Saturday, giving President Donald Trump a win after he backed her to replace GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy. Letlow, who was endorsed by Trump, defeated state Treasurer John Fleming in the two-candidate runoff after they finished ahead of Cassidy in the GOP primary May 16. Letlow pledged her loyalty to Trump in a race where Cassidy, who voted to convict the president on impeachment charges in 2021, spent a year working to keep Trump from going after him. She has promised to work in lockstep with Trump to advance his agenda. “I am so filled with gratitude for the greatest president this country has every had, Donald J. Trump,” Letlow told supporters at her election night watch party in Baton Rouge. “I am also so incredibly grateful for your endorsement.”
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