Psaki ‘Happy To Stay on Longer’ Than a Year As WH Press Secretary: Report

🏛️White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki may not be leaving her position after a year on the job, according to a report.

According to Politico’s West Wing Playbook, Psaki “told colleagues that she is now happy to stay on longer and won’t just walk out the door at her one-year mark, meaning that would-be successors may have to wait much longer than they expected.”

The report also notes that there are no “real discussions” about a successor yet, citing a source familiar “with the internal machinations.”

This comes after Psaki shared during “The Axe Files” podcast interview in early May that she had talked with the Biden transition team about a roughly one-year term, as IJR reported on.

“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 at the time.

Psaki served as the communications director during the Obama administration.

During Wednesday’s press briefing, Karine Jean-Pierre, the principal deputy press secretary, became the first Black woman to brief the 🏛️White House press since 1991 — when Judy Smith became the first Black woman to brief the 🏛️White House.

Jean-Pierre is “technically next in line, but there has been some jockeying behind the scenes in favor of other candidates,” West Wing Playbook reports.

At Wednesday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre said, “It’s a real honor just to be standing here today. I appreciate the historic nature, I really do. But I believe being behind this podium, being in this room, being in this building, is not about one person. It’s about what we do on behalf of the American people.”

Psaki told West Wing Playbook, “It is no surprise that Karine absolutely crushed it today with an expansive base of knowledge and her own graceful style.”