Megyn Kelly isn’t buying Karine Jean-Pierre’s political makeover. On The Megyn Kelly Show Wednesday, the journalist slammed the former White House press secretary’s claim that she’s now an independent. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Kelly said. “What a lie.”
Kelly called Jean-Pierre’s rebranding “desperate” and mocked her history with the Obama and Biden administrations. “She ran for the hills trying to pretend she knows what independence is,” Kelly said. “She’s going to tell us what it’s like to be an independent?”
Jean-Pierre’s new memoir, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines, triggered the response. The book claims Jean-Pierre is stepping beyond party lines and urges Americans to reject “blind loyalty” to the two-party system. Kelly was unimpressed.
The former Fox News anchor compared Jean-Pierre to other press secretaries. “You have had press secretaries … Dana Perino, Kayleigh McEnany, Tony Snow … smart people,” Kelly said. “Not utter morons just out there as mouthpieces.”
She praised current press secretary Karoline Leavitt as “very smart,” then drew a sharp line. “Karine Jean-Pierre is not on the list. Even Jen Psaki isn’t a moron. But Karine Jean-Pierre is a total moron.”
“You only need to have watched her for two days to pick that up,” Kelly added. She didn’t hold back on the book’s potential impact either. “There is literally nobody in the country who wants to hear her political analysis on anything,” she said.
The memoir is set to explore Jean-Pierre’s journey from party insider to so-called independent voice. But Kelly—and many critics—see it as political repositioning, not genuine reflection. “It’s got the stank of desperation,” Kelly said bluntly.