Jen Psaki Says She’ll Leave White House ‘About A Year From Now’
Jen Psaki hinted that she will be departing her position as White House Press Secretary in “about a year” a little over three months since she took the role under the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.
Psaki told former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod’s podcast, “The Axe Files,” of her plans saying that she’d like to like to spend more time with her family.
“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 told Axelrod, who is now CNN’s senior political commentator.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told CNN she plans to step down from her position 'about a year from now' so she can spend more time with her two young children. pic.twitter.com/RnnMfarzD5
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 7, 2021
Psaki — who replaced the former Trump administration’s Kayleigh McEnany — was a former political commentator for CNN for the past four years, until being named President Biden’s press secretary. She also worked under various capacities under the Obama administration.
The 42-year-old press secretary also said in the podcast that she needed to find time in her life for her two young children.
“I don’t want to miss moments, I don’t want to miss things, and I’m very mindful of that as well,” Psaki reportedly said.
“It’s a great job, it will be hard [to leave], but I also never thought I’d be here, and I also love my kids a lot.”
I had a great #AxeFiles conversation today w/@PressSec Jen Psaki about how she prepared for this job, how she executes each day and her observations about @POTUS, @BarackObama, the media and much more.
Honest, insightful and funny, she’s well worth a listen!
Up at 6 AM eastern. pic.twitter.com/xcsUzwZ6wd— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) May 5, 2021
Psaki “didn’t imagine herself returning to the White House after working as Communications Director under President Obama, but when President Joe Biden invited her to join his staff, she agreed,” The Daily Wire’s Charlotte Pence Bond earlier wrote.
She added that when she accepted the job initially early in 2021, she told Biden’s transition team she would only be in the position for a year.
In that same interview, Psaki admitted that Biden’s communications team — which includes herself — tries to keep the 78-year old chief executive from taking impromptu questions from the press, saying “that is not something we recommend.”
“In fact, a lot of times we say ‘don’t take questions,’ you know, but he’s going to do what he wants to do because he’s the President of the United States,” Psaki said.
“We’re never going to satisfy the White House press corps and their desires for access. And I think there have been mistakes made in the past of trying to do that.”
SHE ADMITS IT: Jen Psaki Says She Recommends Biden Avoid Impromptu Questions from Reporters https://t.co/lKw06EefmN
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 6, 2021
On the border issue, the press secretary noted that the White House is “focused on it” without going to the border — and she claimed that a “much smaller percentage” of the public is focused on the border compared to those focused on the pandemic and the economy.
Psaki also tried to placate the underwhelming performance of the Biden administration in its first 100 days in office by subtly pointing finger at the former Republican leadership, again.
“We’re kind of still in recovery from the ‘Game of Thrones’ period of our history here,” she said.
During the podcast. Psaki also spoke about her “on-the-job” training moment as press secretary when she appeared to ridicule the US military while addressing the Space Force.
“Wow. Space Force. It’s the plane of today,” Psaki said then. “It is an interesting question. I am happy to check with our Space Force point of contact. I’m not sure who that is. I will find out and see if we have any update on that.”
However, Psaki’s comment seemed to be in response to another reporter’s query on whether the Biden administration will change the colors on Air Force One — the US Air Force aircraft carrying the US President.
“There are certainly days where I wish I hadn’t said something that I had said … somebody asked me about the Space Force … and my intention was never to begrudge the men and women serving in the Space Force. I was a week in and I had not spent time with the Space Force yet, but that was a good lesson. … To their credit, the head of the Space Force wrote me a note … I will always be an advocate for the Space Force. But it’s a lesson,” Psaki told Axelrod.
