American presidential advisor (born 1966)
Jennifer M. Palmieri (;
[1] born November 15, 1966) is an American political advisor and media personality who served as
White House Director of Communications from 2013 to 2015 and Director of Communications for the
Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign . Palmieri was the co-host of the political documentary series
The Circus on
Showtime from 2021-2023.
[2]
Early life and education
Palmieri was born in
Pascagoula, Mississippi .
[3] After attending
American University , she began her career working for then-Congressman
Leon Panetta (D-CA).
[3]
[4]
Career
Palmieri (center) among advisors to President
Barack Obama (left) in 2013
Palmieri served as
White House Communications Director for
U.S. President Barack Obama.
[5] Before her service at the White House, she served as the Senior Vice President of Communications for the
Center for American Progress and the President of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Earlier, Palmieri was the National Press Secretary for the
2004 John Edwards presidential campaign and for the
Democratic National Committee in 2002, after a brief time at the advocacy group
Americans for Gun Safety . She served in the
Clinton Administration as Special Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, then deputy director of Scheduling and Advance, and finally as a Deputy
White House Press Secretary the last three years of Clinton's presidency.
[6]
WikiLeaks 2016 email hack
Palmieri attracted controversy when an email chain allegedly showing Clinton aides joking about
Catholics and
evangelicals in 2011 was released by
WikiLeaks .
[7] U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that individuals with connections to the Russian government had conducted a
spear-phishing attack against Clinton campaign chair
John Podesta
[8]
[9] as part of an operation to prevent
Hillary Clinton from winning the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
[10]
[9]
In the emails between Palmieri, Podesta, and John Halpin of the
Center for American Progress , Halpin reportedly wrote that
21st Century Fox Chairman
Rupert Murdoch and
NewsCorp Chief Executive
Robert Thomson were drawn to Catholicism because of the faith's "systemic thought and severely backward gender relations."
[11]
Palmieri, herself a Catholic,
[12] purportedly responded that she believes Murdoch, Thomson, and many other conservatives are Catholic because they think it is "the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion ... Their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals", she wrote.
[11]
The president of
CatholicVote.org , a
religious conservative
501(c)(4) organization , demanded Palmieri resign from the campaign,
[13] saying:
Everyone has a unique faith journey, and it's just insulting to make blanket statements maligning people's motives for converting to another faith tradition. Had Palmieri spoken this way about other groups she would be dismissed. Palmieri must resign immediately or be fired.
[14]
Podesta did not respond in the email thread. Palmieri said she "didn't recognize (the email) ... [but] we are not going to fact check each of the emails that were stolen, hacked by Russian-led efforts in an effort to hurt our campaign."
[15]
[16]
[17]
Hillary Clinton presidential campaign 2016
At a
Harvard University forum held on December 1, 2016, to define the Clinton Campaign for the historical record, Palmieri ascribed the loss to (1) alleged white supremacists within the Trump campaign, (2) the e-mail scandal (which she believed reporters should not have covered), and (3) claimed "[that] many political journalists had a personal dislike for the Democratic nominee."
[18] Palmieri's role in the campaign is described in the book by Donna Brazile,
Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House and
Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign .
The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth
Palmieri joined the
Showtime documentary series,
The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth , as guest host, beginning 13 October 2019, with season four episode twelve, Desperate Times, Desperate Measures .
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
Palmieri was announced to be a permanent co-host beginning on January 10, 2021, with the premiere of season 6.
[25] She remained with the series until its end in 2023.
[26]
Vanity Fair
Palmieri is a contributing editor to
Vanity Fair .
[27]
[28]
[29]
[30]
References
^ The White House (February 11, 2013).
Jennifer Palmieri on the State of the Union (web video). Retrieved July 16, 2016 .
^
" 'The Circus' Back on Showtime Jan. 10, Hillary Clinton comms director Jennifer Palmieri joins series" .
^
a
b Easton, Nina.
"The loyal — and discreet — political operative behind Hillary Clinton" , fortune.com; retrieved October 13, 2016.
^
"Jennifer Palmieri profile" .
whitehouse.gov . Retrieved September 30, 2014 – via
National Archives .
^ Bridges, Frances.
"Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri's Advice To Women Running For Office" . Forbes . Retrieved November 20, 2018 .
^
"Jennifer Palmieri" . ballotpedia.org . Retrieved September 13, 2022 .
^ Stein, Jeff.
"What 20,000 pages of hacked WikiLeaks emails teach us about Hillary Clinton" . Vox . Retrieved October 21, 2016 .
^ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (October 20, 2016).
"How Hackers Broke Into John Podesta and Colin Powell's Gmail Accounts" . Motherboard . Retrieved October 21, 2016 .
^
a
b
"Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House" . Washington Post . Retrieved April 30, 2017 .
^
"Why Putin Has an Electoral Bone to Pick With Hillary Clinton" . Time . Retrieved April 30, 2017 .
^
a
b Merica, Dan (October 13, 2016).
"Palmieri doesn't recognize controversial email about Catholics" . CNN. Retrieved April 30, 2017 .
^
"Brian Fallon on Twitter" . Twitter. Retrieved April 30, 2017 .
^ Master, Cyra (October 12, 2016).
"Catholic group demands top Clinton aide resign over leaked emails" . TheHill . Retrieved April 30, 2017 .
^
"CatholicVote.org Demands Clinton's Anti-Catholic Spokeswoman Resign" . catholicvote.org . Retrieved April 30, 2017 .
^ Pulliam Bailey, Sarah.
"WikiLeaks emails appear to show Clinton spokeswoman joking about Catholics and evangelicals" . Washington Post . Retrieved October 19, 2016 .
^ Merica, Dan (October 13, 2016).
"Palmieri doesn't recognize controversial email about Catholics" . CNN. Retrieved October 14, 2016 .
^ Staff (October 14, 2016).
"13 revelations from WikiLeaks' hacked Clinton emails" . BBC News . Retrieved October 19, 2016 .
^ Tumulty, Karen; Rucker, Phillip.
"Shouting match erupts between Clinton and Trump aides" . Washington Post . Retrieved December 2, 2016 .
^
Heilemann, John (October 13, 2019).
"@jheil John Heilemann on Twitter: "#Superstar… " " . Twitter . Archived from
the original on October 13, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2020 . @jheil Retweeted @jmpalmieri Friends, I had the pleasure of being a guest host on @SHO_TheCircus this week. So impressed with talent & professionalism of entire team. Minor miracle that they pull off this high quality show week after week. Tune in tonight at 8 pm to see me & @jheil w/ @CoryBooker in DSM. pic.twitter.com/jm4dJzcYU2
^
"THE CIRCUS CRISSCROSSES IOWA FOR THE FINAL CAUCUS SPRINT" . ViacomCBS Press Express . CBS Broadcasting Inc. February 3, 2020.
Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2020 .
^
"THE CIRCUS HEADS SOUTH FOR A PALMETTO STATE BRAWL" . ViacomCBS Press Express . CBS Broadcasting Inc. February 28, 2020.
Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2020 .
^
"THE CIRCUS IS BACK ON SHOWTIME FOR BIDEN'S VP PICK" . ViacomCBS Press Express . CBS Broadcasting Inc. August 14, 2020.
Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2020 .
^
"Showtime's "THE CIRCUS" Season Finale Taping, Screening and Discussion" . Ivory Zorich . May 4, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2020 .
^
"Former Head of FBI Counter-Intel division. TRANSCRIPT" . The Last Word w/ Lawrence O'Donnell . MSNBC. April 23, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2020 .
^
" 'The Circus' Season 6 | How to watch, live stream, TV channel, time" . January 10, 2021.
^
"Showtime's Political Docuseries 'The Circus' To End Run After Current Season" . November 7, 2023.
^
"Jennifer Palmieri : Latest Articles" .
Vanity Fair .
Condé Nast .
^
"Jennifer Palmieri" . Harry Walker Agency . Retrieved August 21, 2020 .
^
"Jennifer Palmieri" . The Riveter . Retrieved August 21, 2020 .
^
"Protocol: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Capricia Penavic Marshall in Conversation with Jennifer Palmieri" .
92Y . July 13, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2020 .
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