Incoming White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield on Wednesday took to Twitter to defend President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming deputy chief of staff, Jen O’Malley Dillon, after she called GOP lawmakers “a bunch of f—ers” in a recent interview with Glamour.
“So @jomalleydillon would be the first to tell you her mom doesn’t approve of the spicy language,” Bedingfield wrote, “but I would be the first to tell you that the point she was making in this conversation with @GlennonDoyle is spot on: unity and healing are possible — and we can get things done.”
During an interview with Glamour published Tuesday, O’Malley Dillon defended Biden from criticism within his own party over his insistence that Republicans would warm to the idea of working with him.
“In the primary, people would mock him, like, ‘You think you can work with Republicans?’ I’m not saying they’re not a bunch of f—ers. Mitch McConnell is terrible. But this sense that you couldn’t wish for that, you couldn’t wish for this bipartisan ideal? He rejected that,” she told bestselling author Glennon Doyle.
O’Malley Dillon continued, saying that the former vice president, “Set out with this idea that unity was possible, that together we are stronger, that we, as a country, need healing, and our politics needs that too.”
“Which is not to say it is easy. It is like a relationship. You can’t do politics alone. If the other person is not willing to do the work, then that becomes really hard,” O’Malley Dillon continued in the interview. “But I think, more than not, people want to see impact. They want to see us moving in a path forward. They want to do their work, get paid a fair share, have time for themselves and their family, and see each other as neighbors.”
Axios reported Wednesday afternoon that some advisers close to Biden were frustrated over the Glamour interview.
“For those of us who, from Day One, bought into Biden’s calls for civility and a return to normalcy, this isn’t just beyond the pale — it’s plain stupid,” one Biden donor told Axios.
The news outlet also reported that some donors want O’Malley Dillon to apologize to both Biden and congressional Republicans.
However, one Biden official told Axios that while O’Malley Dillon could “have used a different adjective,” the 2020 Biden campaign manager is “real, she is authentic, she says it how it is.”
O’Malley Dillon did not respond to a request for comment from Axios, and she has yet to publicly address her remarks since the interview.
Others also came to O’Malley Dillon’s defense Wednesday, including Brian Fallon, executive director for Demand Justice and national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“Seems like after leading a winning campaign, Jen O’Malley Dillon is entitled to speak her mind without donors telling her to apologize,” Fallon tweeted. “Republicans are going to wheel out their fainting couches and invent grievances constantly the next four years. It is better not be indulge it.”
During the primary and general elections, Biden argued that his decades in the Senate and long-standing relationships with some GOP lawmakers would allow him to productively work with Republicans as president.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for the first time on Tuesday recognized Biden’s victory over President Trump after the Electoral College certified the election results in all 50 states.
Biden said he called McConnell to thank him for recognizing his victory and said that they had a “good conversation.”