Two people familiar with an offer given to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed to NBC News that she turned down an offer to head EMILY’s List, a group dedicated to electing Democratic pro-choice women to office.
In December, a member of the organization’s board reached out to Pierre requesting she interview for the post, with an understanding that she would be “on a fast track to approval,” according to NBC News.
Jessica Mackler currently serves as the organization’s interim President, and sources say she is soon to be offered the job permanently.
Since taking the post in 2022 as the White House’s lead spokesperson, Jean-Pierre has become a familiar face to millions of Americans. According to the source, she accepted EMILY’s List call when they requested to interview for the role, but she subsequently declined the offer.
“I’m committed to the president,” Jean-Pierre said according to the two insiders. “I’m not going anywhere.”
At the time of this writing, EMILY’s List has not commented on the matter.
Laphonza Butler, who took over the seat of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein last year, was the former president of the organization. A new president of the organization has not been named since.
For Jean-Pierre to leave the White House during the height of a presidential election, would have “signaled concern” about President Biden’s chances of winning a re-election, the report says.
“Biden figures to face a challenging rematch with former President Donald Trump, who is trying to lock down the Republican nomination,” the report reads. “A high-profile departure from his White House team — even for a plum gig at the top of one of the political left’s most prominent organizations — might have signaled concern about his chances of winning re-election.”
And although Jean-Pierre turned down the role, there are reasons why she may have wanted to leave the high-profile gig, according to pundits. One of them namely, was her well-known face-off with John Kirby, who was just promoted to White House national security communications adviser, over the press secretary position at the White House.
