Pence spokesman fires back at Karine Jean-Pierre’s ‘faux’ outrage following former VP’s joke about Buttigieg

A spokesman for former Vice President Mike Pence hit back at White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Monday, blasting what he said was her “faux” outrage over a joke Pence told at the annual Gridiron Dinner in Washington, D.C., over the weekend.

At the traditionally humorous white-tie event, Pence joked that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is gay, “took maternity leave” after he and his husband, Chasten, adopted twins in 2021. 

On Monday, Jean-Pierre told The Washington Blade, a liberal LGBTQ outlet, that Pence’s joke was “homophobic,” “offensive” and “inappropriate,” and called on him to apologize “to women and LGBTQ people.”

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A spokesman for former Vice President Mike Pence hit back at White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Monday. (Scott McIntyre/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“The Biden administration should spare America the faux outrage,” Pence adviser and former chief of staff Marc Short told Fox News Digital. “The hypocrisy is especially rich considering their own Secretary of State Antony Blinken joked that he yearned for ‘the old days’ when ‘Jews did all the work.’”

“The White House would be wise to focus less on placating the woke police and focus more on bank failures, planes nearly colliding in midair, train derailments, and the continued supply chain crisis,” he added.

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Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing at the White House, Friday, March 3, 2023.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates lashed out at Short on Twitter following his response to Jean-Pierre, blasting the Trump-Pence administration for their opposition to abortion, and for, he alluded, attributing to the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank.

“Attacking a parent for taking leave when their infants were in the hospital is a poor definition of ‘family values.’ So is denying women the right to make their own health decisions while blocking child care. And who deregulated banks like SVB? The Trump-Pence Administration,” he wrote. 

Pence, who represented Republicans at the event, was joined by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who represented Democrats, and Blinken, who represented the Biden administration. Each told jokes intended to be humorous, however Pence also used the opportunity to call out former President Donald Trump over his handling of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. 

Former President Donald Trump spoke at the East Palestine Fire Department in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 22, 2023. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)

“President Trump was wrong,” he said. “I had no right to overturn the election.”

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Fox News Digital reached doubt to Buttigieg’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.