White House press secretary Jen Psaki is planning to leave her position in the Biden administration for a new role at MSNBC, Axios and CNN reported Friday.
Psaki has been rumored to be looking to leave the demanding White House position for weeks, having agreed to serve as press secretary for a term of roughly one year. According to Axios, she will depart around May to host a show on the network’s streaming platform, Peacock, and lend her perspective on live news programming.
She is expected to stay at the White House at least until the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 30, CNN reported. It will be the first such event since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In joining MSNBC, Psaki will follow another senior communications staffer, Symone Sanders, former spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris. Sanders will host a new eponymous show on weekends starting May 7.
Prior to joining the Biden administration, Psaki worked as a political commentator for CNN. She served in the Obama administration’s White House press shop before moving to the State Department and then returning to the White House to serve as its communications director until 2017.
In late March, Psaki tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time in four months. White House communications director Kate Bedingfield has been filling in for her at press briefings and is rumored to be a candidate for press secretary.
Psaki, a Connecticut native, is married with two children.