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.”
I might have been the first, but so glad I'm not the last! Congrats, @KJP46, on leading the White House briefing room today. So proud of you! #firstandsecond pic.twitter.com/8LKqqo989g
— Judy Smith (@JudySmith) May 26, 2021
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.”