OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is apparently a hot commodity now that is leaving her job in President Joe Biden’s administration.
Word is that the press secretary has taken a job at MSNBC, but a report from Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich says that there was bidding war for Psaki’s services that involved rival cable news network CNN.
“So we have confirmed, from a source familiar with the situation, that Jen Psaki will be leaving her post here at the White House in the coming weeks. Sometime this spring, she’s going to be taking a job at MSNBC. I was told that there was a bidding war between CNN and MSNBC to get her on board,” Heinrich said to host Jared Halpern on The Fox News Rundown podcast.
“There are some, you know, legal stipulations about how she has to go about her departure and contract signing, in terms of, you know, federal ethics rules. So she wants to be, you know, have her i’s dotted and t’s crossed on that front. But we do know she’s going to be leaving. There have been some reports from other outlets which I don’t have the details on, but Axios, for instance, reported that she’s going to be taking a show on Peacock to their streaming service, and then would also, you know, lend her voice to the programing on the cable channel during the day as well,” the journalist said.
As the journalist said, Psaki’s departure from the White House is not unexpected.
“Yeah, she we’ve known, you know, for a while that she was going to head out. I think it was, you know, pretty much too soon after she got into this job that the expectation was that she would do it for a year. You know, she was out of government before this after having been in government for the Obama administration. So she sort of came back to this government job and didn’t plan on staying in it long term. And a year is, you know, it’s a good run for a press secretary. We don’t know who’s going to follow her up, but we are waiting to see,” she said.
Axios reported.
Psaki has been in close consultation with the White House counsel’s office about her departure, according to two sources familiar with the plans. She’s been treading carefully on the ethics and legal aspects of her plans.
No contracts have been signed. Government ethics rules have stipulations about how public employees can pursue private sector job opportunities while in office.
She’s also told some senior officials at the White House about her departure and her plans to join MSNBC, according to two sources.
Psaki has not yet formally told the White House press team about her departure, an administration source tells Axios.
MSNBC has been working with its compliance lawyers to make sure their conversations didn’t violate any government regulations, according to a source close to the matter.
The deal with MSNBC and Psaki is close to being final after the White House press secretary had spoken to CNN and other network, Axios reported.
The report said that Psaki will host a show for MSNBC and for its streaming platform Peacock.
“Psaki’s deal is similar to that of Symone Sanders, a former adviser and senior spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris,” it said.
“Sanders signed an exclusive deal with MSNBC in January to host a show on Peacock and to participate in live programming on MSNBC.
“Her new show, called Symone, will air at 4 p.m. ET on weekends on MSNBC and will stream on Mondays and Tuesdays on Peacock, per Deadline,” it said.
