White House press secretary Jen Psaki is on track to join cable news channel MSNBC as a host in May, according to two people familiar with the plans.
Psaki, 43, will have a regular program on the cable network and a presence on NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service, according to one person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to comment and requested anonymity.
A representative for MSNBC declined to comment on Psaki‘s pending deal with the network, which was first reported by Axios.
Psaki is expected to sign a contract once she officially leaves her government role, said one of the people with knowledge of the talks. The White House has made no formal announcement on when she will depart.
Psaki has become a fixture on cable news through her daily briefings, occasionally creating viral moments when she sparred with Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy and others. Her unflinching steadiness at the lectern on behalf of President Joe Biden’s administration has been praised by media critics.
Psaki, who previously served as an on-air contributor to CNN, will create a splash for MSNBC just before it loses the daily services of its biggest prime-time star, Rachel Maddow, who is expected to permanently step back from her program this summer. However, Psaki will not be filling Maddow’s 9 p.m. Eastern time slot, the people familiar with the plan said.
The White House press secretary position has long been a fast track to a television news job. George Stephanopoulos held the position during the Clinton administration before he joined ABC News. Dana Perino, a co-host on the Fox News show “The Five,” was in the post during the George W. Bush administration, where MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace also served as communications director.
Former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany is a co-host of the Fox News talk show “Outnumbered,” while one of her predecessors, Sean Spicer, holds court daily on Newsmax.
Earlier this week, CBS News named former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney as a paid contributor. The move has been criticized internally and externally, as Mulvaney was seen as someone who regularly espoused misinformation on behalf of the previous administration.
CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert roasted the move on his program Thursday, calling Mulvaney a “craven toady to a tyrant.”
MSNBC, which caters to politically progressive viewers with its opinion programs, recently hired Symone Sanders, a veteran Democratic strategist and former adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, to host a weekend program on the network.
