Karine Jean-Pierre refused to say at a press conference if Biden would serve for “all eight years” if he was successfully elected as president in 2024.
Biden announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president in the 2024 election on Tuesday. Attacking “MAGA extremists,” in his campaign announcement, he said that he wanted to protect the “bedrock” rights of Americans, which included the “right” to Social Security, and abortion for women.
However, speaking to reporters at a press conference at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to answer a question from a reporter who asked whether Biden, who would be 85 at the end of a 2024 term, planned to serve “all eight years” in office.
“I’m not, I’m just not gonna get ahead of the president,” Jean-Pierre replied after laughing. “That’s something for him to decide. I’m just not going to get ahead of it, and there’s a 2024 campaign. Anything related to that I would refer you to that.”
REPORTER: "Does the president plan to serve all eight years?"
KJP, laughing: "I'm just not gonna get ahead of the president. That's something for him to decide." pic.twitter.com/5tRPEn0cyY
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 25, 2023
Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman declared that Jean-Pierre’s answer was “remarkable” given Biden’s campaign launch, with others online noting that if Biden did not serve “all eight years,” the American people would be left with President Kamala Harris as a result.
No. This is a plan to force Kamala on us.
— Ken Redacted 🇺🇸 (@Bandaidken) April 25, 2023
Jean-Pierre was later forced to retract her previous statement. “As you know, we take following the law seriously. So I wanted to be sure that I didn’t go into 2024 more than is appropriate under the law,” she wrote in a post on Twitter. “But I can confirm that if re-elected, [Biden] would serve all 8 years.”
As you know, we take following the law seriously. So I wanted to be sure that I didn't go into 2024 more than is appropriate under the law. But I can confirm that if re-elected, @POTUS would serve all 8 years. https://t.co/n9OfMV4D1Y
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) April 25, 2023
In a post to Truth Social, 45th President Donald Trump slammed the idea of Biden running again in 2024. “You could take the five worst presidents in American history, and put them together, and they would not have done the damage Joe Biden has done to our Nation in just a few short years. Not even close,” Trump said.
If he was successful in taking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Trump said that a debate rematch between him and Biden would be the “radical Democrats’ worst nightmare,” because “there has never been a greater contrast between two successive administrations in all of American history. Ours being greatness, and theirs being failure.”
