Psaki leaving White House for MSNBC

WASHINGTON — After serving as White House press secretary for more than a year, Jen Psaki will leave the Biden administration for MSNBC, where she will serve as a host and on-air expert. The departure, first reported by Axios, is expected this spring.

Psaki has held near-daily briefings since the start of the Biden presidency, and has generally been praised for her transparency. She had initially said she would stay in her position for a year, but a number of overlapping crises — the coronavirus pandemic, the withdrawal from Afghanistan and, most recently, the war in Ukraine — appear to have extended her tenure.

The news outlet Puck had previously reported that Psaki was in talks with both CNN and MSNBC, and there was even speculation that she might replace MSNBC primetime star Rachel Maddow, who is stepping back from nightly hosting duties.

Psaki will join a cable news landscape crowded with alumni of high-level Washington politics. CBS recently hired former Trump White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, a decision for which it was criticized by some of the network’s own employees. And Symone Sanders, former top spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris, will start hosting her own program on MSNBC in May.