White House press secretary Jen Psaki may be headed for the exits amid reports she is in the final stages of talks with MSNBC, creating an opening to succeed her at the podium.
Psaki, who has not confirmed her departure, has previously said she expected to stay in the role as President Joe Biden’s top spokeswoman for a year, though she later said she can stay longer and “likely will stay longer.”
BIDEN’S VERBAL MISSTEPS ADD TO THE FOG OF WAR IN UKRAINE
While the White House hasn’t publicly identified any likely successors, there are several candidates already on staff who might receive consideration if she departs.
Karine Jean-Pierre
The principal deputy press secretary is currently Psaki’s No. 2 and has done White House briefings in her absence in the past. Jean-Pierre, 44, served as Vice President Kamala Harris’s chief of staff during the 2020 campaign. She has been a national spokeswoman for the left-wing group MoveOn.org, a political analyst for both NBC News and MSNBC, and a lecturer at Columbia University, in addition to her experience in the presidential campaigns of John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Martin O’Malley.
“I think there frankly needs to be diverse spaces and voices as communicators,” Psaki told the New York Times when discussing people who might serve as White House press secretary. “Women, certainly, but beyond that.” Jean-Pierre is a lesbian black woman who would bring such diversity to the job.
Jean-Pierre’s briefings have been understated and have broken little news in contrast with the “Psaki bombs” and viral exchanges with reporters such as Fox News’s Peter Doocy that characterize many of her boss’s outings. Jean-Pierre accompanied Biden on his trip to Europe to address the Russian invasion of Ukraine after Psaki tested positive for COVID-19. She did one gaggle and then tested positive for the virus herself.
Kate Bedingfield
The current White House communications director oversees much of the Biden administration’s public messaging strategy. She was also communications director for Biden when he was vice president during the Obama administration. Bedingfield, 40, was Biden’s deputy campaign manager in 2020.
The unflappable Bedingfield is a closer member of the president’s inner circle than Psaki, an Obama administration alumni. She was quoted in a recent book criticizing Harris’s managerial discipline, which could lead to awkward questions if regularly put in front of reporters in a public setting. The comms director filled in at the White House daily briefings as Psaki and Jean-Pierre were convalescing. She was originally scheduled to do so again Friday, but Psaki made her return to the podium instead.
A reporter accidentally called Bedingfield “Jen” during a briefing, eliciting laughter from the room. “High praise,” Bedingfield, a fellow redhead, replied.
Ned Price
As State Department spokesman, Price already holds one position previously filled by Psaki. The 39-year-old came to the Biden administration from a nonprofit group he co-founded. Price served in a senior communications role for the National Security Council during the Obama administration. He was previously a senior analyst and spokesman for the CIA.
Price has already been a major voice for the Biden team on the Ukraine invasion. He has tangled with Associated Press reporter Matt Lee on sanctions and preinvasion U.S. intelligence claims in what might be viewed as possible preparation for mixing it up with the White House press corps.
John Kirby
The Pentagon spokesman has also had to fend off media inquiries about some of the biggest stories and controversies of Biden’s presidency, including the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Kirby, 59, has considerable experience outside of communications. He is a retired rear admiral in the Navy and worked as a diplomatic and military analyst for CNN during former President Donald Trump’s term.
He has recently stated that the United States believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has received some inaccurate information about how the war in Ukraine going, a message later amplified by the White House.
Elizabeth Alexander
The communications director for first lady Jill Biden could also be considered for the role, repeating a transition similar to one Stephanie Grisham briefly made during the Trump administration. Alexander previously served as Biden’s press secretary during the first two years of his vice presidency. She has held similar jobs for the United Nations Foundation, the Democratic National Committee during Terry McAuliffe’s tenure as chairman, California Rep. Adam Schiff, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Alexander is also a former federal prosecutor, having worked in U.S. attorneys’ offices in both Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia. She was a senior managing director at FTI Consulting before she signed on as a senior adviser to the Biden-Harris campaign.
Symone Sanders
The Democratic strategist and commentator was once considered a likely candidate for Psaki’s job. A former chief spokeswoman for Harris, the 32-year-old has already cut the career path rumored of Psaki: She left the White House for MSNBC.
That departure might not hurt Sanders’s chances — if she were interested. The turnover in Harris’s office is legendary. But a Washington Post profile of Sanders quoted a friend, Bakari Sellers, saying she was disappointed not to be named press secretary the first go-around. “She picked a winner, but the winner didn’t pick her back,” is how the Washington Post described it. “Sanders had made it known, privately and in her book, that she hoped to be the first Black woman to hold the job of press secretary.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
It’s possible that could reduce the likelihood of Sanders getting a second chance. “Whether deliberate or not, it appeared to be an attempt to position her as Jen’s successor,” Politico quoted a source as saying.
Biden has gone outside the political realm to fill similar jobs before. He chose Jay Carney, then Time magazine’s Washington bureau chief, to be his first communications director. Obama later tapped Carney for White House press secretary.
