Jen Psaki to Step Down as White House Press Secretary in May to Take Position at MSNBC

It was announced today that White House press secretary Jen Psaki is set to step down from her position in May to join MSNBC.

Axios was the first to report the news after it’s been speculated for weeks that Psaki would leave the White House for a TV gig.

No contracts have been signed, however, as government ethics rules have stipulations about how public employees can pursue private sector job opportunities while in office.

U.S. House Rep Lauren Boebert (R-CO) summed up her thoughts on the potential transition by lamenting, “So basically, she will still be working for Joe Biden.”

BREAKING: Jen Psaki is leaving the White House to work for MSNBC.

So basically, she will still be working for Joe Biden.

— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) April 1, 2022

We reported in May 2021, less than four months after she had started the job, that in an interview with CNN’s David Axelrod, Psaki said that she intended to depart the job this year and give someone else a shot at the high-profile position.

Axelrod asked her at the time, “You said at the beginning that you didn’t expect to be in this job forever, for four years and so on. Is that still your thought that at some point you’re going to step away now?”

Psaki responded, “I think it’s going to be time for somebody else to have this job in a year from now or about a year from now. I mean, when I talked to the inner circle of the Biden orbit about this, we talked about coming in and doing this job for a year, which was quite appealing to me for many reasons.”

“One, this is, what a moment in history. Right,” Psaki insisted, “To be a part of. It’s always true in the White House. But I think following Trump, especially if you can take the temperature down a little bit, that’s a cool thing to be a part of.”

The reported plan for Psaki is to for her to host a show for MSNBC on NBCUniversal’s streaming platform, Peacock.

Psaki also will apparently be a part of live programming on MSNBC’s cable network as a voice on different shows, but she will not be hosting the 9 p.m. hour replacing Rachel Maddow, which has been speculated.