KJP’S WORST FEAR COMES TRUE AS JOHN KIRBY TAKES CHARGE In an original report, the Daily Caller's Reagan Reese reviewed the White House briefing data to get a better understanding of how Jean-Pierre's presence and influence from the podium might have waned coming into a big reelection year for President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. The Caller found that Admiral John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, has become a "mainstay" in briefings and that so far this year, when he and KJP are together behind the podium, they talk for approximately the same amount of time. Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, Kirby has been a mainstay at briefings alongside Jean-Pierre to answer reporters' questions about the foreign conflict. Though Americans have indicated the war is not their top concern, Kirby has remained at the briefings -- only missing five through January until Feb. 27. Of the briefings he has attended in 2024, 19 out of the 22 total held, Kirby has fielded questions for almost the exact same amount of time as Jean-Pierre. As of Feb. 27, Jean-Pierre has spent about 11 hours and 31 minutes at the White House press briefing podium this year across 22 briefings. Kirby has answered questions for just under nine hours and two minutes in 19 briefings. In those 19 briefings when Kirby and Jean-Pierre were together, the press secretary spoke for just shy of nine hours and 11 minutes -- almost a perfect fifty-fifty split with her counterpart. "There is no precedent for this. Press secretaries always bring guests, right. It's like, 'Hey, we're gonna have the OMB [the Office of Management and Budget] guys brief you on the budget and talk to you about that.' That's normal," Sean Spicer, one-time press secretary for former President Donald Trump, told the Daily Caller. "That's as old as the job. But this idea that you have a co-press secretary is unprecedented." [...] Kirby's performance has been better received by some observers. "Sometimes I'll tweet out, like, 'this was a good job by Kirby.' I've had a number of [Republicans] tell me that Kirby gets it. I mean, I actually think he has the respect of Republicans. And so therefore, they listen to what he has to say and they find him to be a credible messenger. I don't think anybody respects Karine," Scott Jennings, a longtime GOP adviser in Kentucky and veteran of numerous campaigns, told the Daily Caller. "And so if you're a White House, and you're trying to communicate to the larger world and also the people in Washington, you know, your chief messenger has to be credible and respected. I think Kirby has achieved that." "I can't remember a time when this has happened. I mean, it seems to me they give Kirby all the important things to talk about. And they let her talk about the rest," Jennings told the Daily Caller. | 
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