Apr 02, 2024 - 18:29
By huffpost.com

Karine Jean-Pierre Tries To Pull April Fools' Prank, And, Well ...

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tried an April Fools’ prank on reporters Monday, but they didn’t seem too impressed. (Watch the video below.)

“So, I have something at the top for all of you, and I think you’ll be really interested in this,” she said. “So, President Biden is scheduled to announce he is revoking the Hatch Act so as a gift to all of you — so, now I can actually take all your questions about 2024.”

According to the White House transcript, there was “laughter” from the journalists after Jean-Pierre’s joke about the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from campaign talk on the job.

But the clip shared by Forbes seemed to include more sarcastic “ha-ha’s” than actual laughter.

“No? I thought you would love that,” she said.

“No” was among the replies.

“All right. OK. April Fools,” she said.

When someone said “that’s a pretty good one,” Jean-Pierre replied. “Thank you, I thought it was pretty slick of me.”

The press liaison then moved on to the matters of he day.

The lighthearted moment got a cold reception from the The New York Post, which wrote she “made an April Fool of herself.”

Tough room!

The tabloid noted that Jean-Pierre was found to have violated the Hatch Act for using the term “MAGA Republicans” before an election and was issued a warning by the federal agency that enforces the law.

She invoked the Hatch Act earlier this year to bat down a question about a speculated Biden appearance at a Taylor Swift concert. Some right-wingers had advanced rumors the singer was an operative to be deployed for Biden’s reelection campaign.