White House press secretary Jen Psaki could be headed from the White House to primetime television.
Psaki, known for her frequent clashes with reporters in the White House briefing room, is reportedly being courted by top executives at MSNBC and CNN — and she could become “the next Rachel Maddow.”
What are the details?
Just months after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Psaki placed an expiration date on her job in the White House, telling David Axelrod that she intended to leave the Biden administration in 2022.
“I think it’s going to be time for somebody else to have this job in a year from now or about a year from now,” she said on Axelrod’s podcast last May.
Now, nearly one year after those remarks, top cable news executives are courting Psaki for whenever she leaves the White House. According to media reporter Dylan Byers, Psaki met with executives from MSNBC and CNN this month, presumably to discuss joining their networks.
Byers reported that CNN interim co-president Amy Entelis and CNN+ programming lead Rebecca Kutler traveled to Washington, D.C., this month for a “top-secret and mission-critical recruitment assignment” with Psaki. Then, less than one week later, NBC News Chairman Cesar Conde and MSNBC President Rashida Jones traveled to the nation’s capital with the same mission.
ABC News and CBS News are also reportedly interested in hiring Psaki.
What about Maddow?
The MSNBC star announced a hiatus from the network last month. Maddow had made it clear in the past that she wanted to scale back from the grind of hosting a daily primetime show, especially considering the weight of being MSNBC’s most-watched primetime host.
And despite Maddow’s hiatus being slated to end in April, an official end-date has not been set, the New York Times reported, and it may extend beyond that time. According to Byers, Psaki could become the next Maddow, by which he means a well-spoken and knowledgable liberal host of a primetime TV show.
Both MSNBC and CNN are in desperate need of new talent. With CNN plagued by scandals and Maddow’s future up in the air, Byers explained that “Psaki’s star power has the potential to change the narrative for either network.”
Any negotiations are in their early stages, and Psaki is not close to signing a contract, the New York Post reported.
Prior to joining the Biden administration, she worked at CNN and in the Obama administration.