WASHINGTON — Karine Jean-Pierre has been selected to be the next White House press secretary, becoming the first Black person and out gay woman to serve in that role.
Jean-Pierre, 44, will take over the briefing room lectern from Jen Psaki, who will step down May 13, the White House said. Psaki has served as President Joe Biden's press secretary since he took office in January 2021.
"Karine not only brings the experience, talent and integrity needed for this difficult job, but she will continue to lead the way in communicating about the work of the Biden-Harris administration on behalf of the American people," Biden said in a statement.
Among others who had been considered for the role were Kate Bedingfield and John Kirby. Bedingfield, the White House communications director and a longtime Biden aide, filled in for Psaki after she tested positive for the coronavirus in late March. Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, is by far the most experienced spokesman within the administration and would have brought an expertise on defense matters to the briefing room at a moment when reporters are focused on the war in Ukraine.
Jean-Pierre's promotion has the potential of reminding Black voters, many disappointed in the president's inability to make progress on ensuring voting rights protections or police reform, that Biden is following through on his promise to make the executive branch more inclusive and representative of a diverse nation.
Jean-Pierre, who was born in French Martinique and has been in the administration since Biden took office, will ascend to the administration's most public-facing role less than a month after the president — alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, a trailblazer in her own right — celebrated the successful confirmation to the Supreme Court of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson, who will take her seat when the current Supreme Court term ends in coming weeks, will become the nation's first Black woman justice.
Psaki, a veteran of the Obama administration whose occasional "Psaki bomb" bromides to reporters were celebrated by progressives on Twitter, leaves behind significant shoes to fill as she departs for a position as a host at MSNBC. Biden praised Psaki for her service, saying that she has "set the standard for returning decency, respect and decorum to the White House Briefing Room."
Determined to usher in a new era of old-fashioned White House-press corps relations after four years of acrimony and melodrama during President Donald Trump's time in office, Psaki made a point of holding briefings every day and responding to reporters' questions with a nearly unbreakable message discipline, respectful tone and an evasiveness often cloaked in affability.
But her decision to stay on over the last month after news reports surfaced about her move to the left-leaning cable network prompted credibility questions centering on the ethics of continuing to respond to questions from journalists, some of whom were set to become her colleagues, on behalf of the president.
While Psaki did not work on Biden's 2020 president campaign, she was quickly initiated into the small inner circle of advisers whom he deeply trusts and who are around the president nearly every day. Similarly, Jean-Pierre, who was part of the campaign as a spokesperson for Kamala Harris during the general election, does not have a long history with Biden.
But, administration officials said, Biden had the final say in picking her as Psaki's replacement.
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