(Tony Sifert, Headline USA) White House press secretary Jen Psaki has come under fire recently for her plan to jump ship from the White House to a plush position at MSNBC, according to a report in The Hill.
On April 1, Axios reported that Psaki had stepped into the so-called “revolving door” and was in “exclusive talks” about a “TV gig” with the leftist network.
Psaki’s role would have her as “a part of live programming on MSNBC’s cable network as a voice on different shows,” reported Axios.
Asked about her plans during a White House press conference, Psaki said that she had “nothing to confirm about my length of public service or planned service, or anything about consideration about next plans.”
In response to a question regarding the ethics serving as press secretary “while negotiating with a media outlet,” Psaki said that she had “complied with all ethics requirements and gone beyond, and taken steps to recuse myself from decisions as appropriate.”
Writing in the Daily Mail, Meghan McCain attacked Psaki’s decision.
It is “ethically nebulous (at best) and double dealing (at worst) [that] Psaki was reportedly negotiating her exit while simultaneously serving as White House Press Secretary,” McCain wrote.
“The optics of Psaki negotiating her exit while working as a civil servant to our media are horrible,” she continued.
Niall Stanage at The Hill agreed.
“What’s unusual about Psaki’s case is that she has seemingly been negotiating such a deal while still serving as White House press secretary,” Stanage wrote.
“It’s hard for the White House to have their chief spokesperson be on deck to be working with the people who are sitting at the briefing,” Tobe Berkovitz, professor emeritus at Boston University, told the Hill.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been using the idea of Psaki as a talking head in fundraising pitches, according to Fox News.
“Jen Psaki is INCREDIBLE!!” the DCCC wrote to supporters in an email. “She’s planning to join MSNBC’s intrepid team of journalists to hold dangerous, far-right Republicans accountable.”
