Press secretary Jen Psaki is planning to leave the White House this spring for a new role in cable news, according to a report.
Axios reports that Ms Psaki is in talks to join MSNBC and appear across a number of shows while also starting her own on the Peacock streaming platform.
She will not be replacing Rachel Maddow on the 9pm hour on MSNBC as has been speculated.
According to Axios’ reporting Ms Psaki has been in close consultation with the White House counsel’s office about her departure due to the ethical and legal stipulations about how public employees can seek private sector employment while still in office.
Ms Psaki is planning to leave in May, but contracts have yet to be signed.
Citing two sources, the report says that some senior officials at the White House are aware of her departure and plans with MSNBC, though no formal announcement has been made internally.
For its part, MSNBC has similarly been working with its compliance lawyers to make sure their conversations didn’t violate any federal government regulations.
The Independent has contacted MSNBC for comment.
Ms Psaki said in the first months of the Biden administration that “it’s going to be time for somebody else to have this job in a year from now”.
Speaking to former Obama administration colleague David Axelrod in an interview on his podcast in May 2021 she said that it was a great job and would be hard to leave, but she wants to spend time with her children.
Ms Psaki will following a well-worn path of White House officials, including Mr Axelrod, heading to cable news. He joined CNN, Trump spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany joined Fox News, and Bush official Nicole Wallace hosts a daily two-hour show on MSNBC.
Most recently Symone Sanders, a former adviser and senior spokesperson for vice president Kamala Harris, joined MSNBC in January.
She will host a show on Peacock called Symone at 4pm on weekends and take part in live programming on MSNBC.
As to who will replace Ms Psaki at the famous White House press room podium, in her absence due to testing positive for Covid-19, the principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was first to step up before also testing positive.
Ms Jean-Pierre would be the first Black woman to serve as the chief White House press secretary, and already made history as the first Black woman to deliver a briefing in decades when she did so last year.
In her absence, this week’s briefings have been handled by communications director Kate Bedingfield, a Biden world veteran. Her briefings are having the effect, even if unintentional, of appearing as her audition for the role.
Following the departure of Ms Sanders last year, there are a handful of others who could potentially serve as plausible successors to Ms Psaki, like the State Department’s Ned Price or even, according to Politico Playbooka journalist, or first lady Dr Jill Biden’s communications director, Elizabeth Alexander.
For now Ms Jean-Pierre and Ms Bedingfield appear the top contenders for the role.