The Hot Seat

Karine Jean-Pierre has made history as President Biden's White House press secretary. She's also made waves.

- By Mattie Kahn

In June 2019, Karine Jean-Pierre was moderating a forum for presidential candidates when a protester rushed the stage. It’s a famous video: Finding herself seated between the oncoming protester and then senator Kamala Harris, Jean-Pierre leapt to her feet, raised a hand, and turned her body to face him—a five-foot-two one-woman blockade to the future vice president of the United States. On Morning Joe later that week, cohost Willie Geist marveled at her courage: “I know who I want moderating my next panel.”

At the time, Jean-Pierre, who had worked in the Obama administration, was the chief public affairs officer for MoveOn.org and a political pundit. Her next moves would be swift: In 2020 she joined the Biden campaign as a senior adviser and later became Harris’s chief of staff. About a year and a half into the Biden presidency, she was introduced as the White House press secretary—the first Black person and first openly gay person to hold the position.

Jean-Pierre is a realist. For all the history she’s made in her career, she expects she will best be remembered for her fracas with the protester that went viral. “It ’s going to be on my tombstone,” she says, with cheery resignation. The day after the onstage clash, Harris called Jean-Pierre to see how she was holding up. “How I was doing!” Jean-Pierre remembers. “I said, ‘Please get security.’ She was like, ‘I’m calling to check in on you!’” But Jean-Pierre repeated herself. Get security.