Karine Jean-Pierre Roasts GOP for Needing to ‘Set Up a Meeting to Tell Republican Leaders to Stop Being Racist’

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reacted to a report about congressional Republicans holding a meeting in which they were told to avoid using racist and sexist language about Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris became the presumptive nominee after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday. When Harris is formally nominated next month, she will become the first Black woman to be nominated for U.S. president by a major political party. Earlier this week, a House Republican responded to the news by calling Harris a “DEI hire.”

Perhaps sensing certain members of his conference could use some sensitivity training, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) convened a closed-door meeting on Tuesday where he told them to stick to the issues.

“This election will be about policies and not personalities,” he told reporters afterward. “This is not personal with regard to Kamala Harris and her ethnicity or her gender have nothing to do with this whatsoever.”

Jean-Pierre was asked about the report during Thursday’s briefing. She replied:

When you have the speaker of the House – obviously a Republican and this is something you all have reported – set up a meeting to tell Republican leaders to stop being racist, to stop being misogynist, to stop being sexist, I think that says a lot that they have to be told to not do that.

But more broadly, I think it’s, I think it’s desperate. I think it’s disgusting and I think it’s a dog whistle. And we should not forget that she is the vice president of the United States. She’s the vice president of the United States. She should get that respect. She’s been doing this job with the president for almost four years. She’s a former senator and has been a critical partner in getting the economy restarted and making sure that we deal with the pandemic. And to hear that is frankly disgusting.

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