White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday fired back at a reporter questioning the optics of Vice President Kamala Harris vacationing amid Democratic National Committee layoffs.
“The president has talked so much about being the most pro-union president ever. This week, the DNC staff union put out a pretty scathing note saying that so many DNC staffers have gotten laid off, no severance — they were shocked,” a reporter asked Jean-Pierre during the White House press briefing. “I’m just curious from an optics perspective — the vice president left town to go to Hawaii on vacation. Does the president think that’s appropriate when so many DNC staffers are literally wondering what they’re going to do for work?”
“All right, let’s not twist this in so many knots here,” Jean-Pierre said. “The vice president has taken time off to go spend time with her family. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think she deserves some time to be with her family and to have some down time.”
“She has worked very hard over the last four years, and her taking a couple of days to be with her family — good for her,” Jean-Pierre continued before she ended the briefing.
The DNC workers’ union this week called out layoffs, saying permanent employees were let go with only one day’s notice and no severance. The union claimed the layoffs included permanent employees who were promised they would keep their jobs after the presidential election.
