Is Karine Jean-Pierre The Worst White House Press Secretary Ever? All Signs Point To Yes.

You recognize their names: Jay Carney; Dee Dee Myers. Scott McClellan. Robert Gibbs. Mike McCurry. Joe Lockhart. Marlin Fitzwater. James Brady. Tony Snow.

These are White House press secretaries. You may not know this (I didn’t), but there have been only 35 official press secretaries. That’s an elite club. Herbert Hoover selected George Akerson in 1929 to be the first White House press secretary.

But let’s talk about that 35th one. Karine Jean-Pierre, the worst press secretary in history? She’s making a very strong case for the ignominious title.

Sure, there’s Sean Spicer. He was awful. Anthony Scaramucci, on the other hand, was a disaster. He died within days.

But in all my years of covering the White House and reading the news (my first job was as a delivery boy for The Washington Post in the early 1970s, when I used to sit on the sewer lid and read the latest stories about Watergate), I’ve never seen a press secretary quite this bad.

First, she is usually accompanied by a “special guest,” One government official who accepts questions. KJP can only take a few questions. Jean-Pierre has to be there for about half an hour if the guest is taking 30 minutes.

Second, she always carries a big book with all of the things she’s supposed to say — and she looks at it nonstop, even on the simplest of questions (“Does the sun rise in the east?” [Pause. Checks book. “Yes.”). The White House press team has put together talking points on nearly every conceivable topic that might come up, but I’ve never seen a press secretary go to the book as often as Jean-Pierre does.

And third, she doesn’t answer even the most basic questions.

There was a perfect example of this on Wednesday. Reporters have rightly been asking tons of questions about those classified documents found in President Joe Biden’s garage, but KJP is deflecting them all, referring them to the Department of Justice or the White House counsel’s office (and I know from covering the White House for years, when you call them, they say, “Hey, call the White House”).

So one reporter tried to ask a simple question, not about the documents but about whether the White House has taken action to make sure classified documents don’t show up in a pile next to the president’s Corvette.

“Just to be clear, my question is about procedures here at the White House and not about anything specific related to the DOJ investigation,” the reporter said. “So I’m just wondering how this episode has prompted a review of the process in which staffers handle classified information and how they are turned over to National Archives during a transition.”

“And to be clear,” Jean-Pierre said, “I’m going to refer you to my colleagues at the White House Counsel’s Office. They will be able to address that particular questions. I’m just not going to address something that is even related to an ongoing legal process.”

Q: “OK. Is President Biden satisfied with the current SOP of handling classified materials here and turning them over to National Archives?” the reporter asked.

Jean-Pierre: “Again, I will refer you to the White House Counsel’s Office. They are the — they’re the people who would be able to answer that question about classified information.”

Q: “So, just to be clear: From this point on, are you not going to be taking questions about the classified documents?”

Jean-Pierre: “I have been very clear over and over again we are going to be prudent here. We’re going to be consistent. This particular matter is being — is being looked at. There’s a legal process currently happening at the Department of Justice, and I’m going to refer you to the Department of Justice on any specifics to this particular case. And anything that has to deal with our — what we’re doing here, I would refer you to the White House Counsel’s Office.”

Other reporters noted that the DOJ and counsel’s office aren’t answering questions. White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) board member, Karen Travers of ABC News, told Jean-Pierre “there was a formal request from the WHCA to have [White House special counsel] Richard Sauber will attend the briefing to answer questions. … Would you commit to having the White House counsel come here and take questions?”

“That is something that I would refer you to the White House counsel’s office,” Jean-Pierre answered, noting that so far he had only held a 45-minute conference call. “They have been engaged with all of you.”

Jacqui Heinrich from Fox News, another member of the WHCA board, pointed out that Jean Pierre keeps referring reporters places that don’t offer any answers.

“Since so many of our questions have been referred to the DOJ and to the White House counsel’s office, I’m sure you can