Tuesday, deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton replaced press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the podium in the White House briefing room.

Dalton, who some speculate could replace Jean-Pierre, has previously conducted press briefings on Air Force One, but Tuesday marked the first time he lead the briefing from a physical podium.

The Daily Caller reported that Jean-Pierre was absent from the event.

A White House official told the Caller, “It’s standard for the principal deputy to brief. Karine did so many times while Jen was Press Secretary.”

What was Discussed

Like Jean-Pierre, Dalton refused to discuss the IRS whistleblower's testimony regarding Hunter Biden.

“Does the White House believe Attorney General Garland committed perjury when he testified under oath that Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss could bring charges outside of his district?” the New York Post’s Steven Nelson asked, referring to the whistleblower testimony released to the public on Thursday.

“I don’t have any comment on this,” Dalton responded.

John Kirby, the national security spokesperson for the White House, has frequently accompanied Jean-Pierre to briefings, where he frequently speaks for roughly half the time.

After a tumultuous briefing on Friday, Dalton stepped up to the podium. During the contentious press conference, several reporters shouted at Kirby and questioned Jean-Pierre about an alleged 2017 text message in which Hunter Biden threatens a Chinese business associate by referencing his father, who he said was sitting next to him.

Karine Jean-Pierre's Profesional History

Jean-Pierre's first White House news briefing in May 2021. Jean-Pierre was Barack Obama's southeast regional political director in 2008 throughout the Obama administration's first term. Jean-Pierre was President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign's National Deputy Battleground States Director in 2011.

She oversaw delegate selection, ballot access, and political involvement in important states, giving tools to assist states identify "the best way for them to get the word out for the campaign."

Jean-Pierre worked for the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign as a top assistant after joining the Biden team in May 2020.

She told The Haitian Times that she wanted to help shape the future. When the campaign asked her to join, she looked at her daughter and thought, "There is no way I can not get involved in this election."

The Biden-Harris transition team told the public on November 29, 2020, that Jean-Pierre had been named Principal Deputy Press Secretary. On May 26, 2021, she gave her first White House press briefing. She was the first openly LGBTQ person to do so[28] and the first black woman to do so since 1991.