Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign of U.S. senator Barack Obama, Psaki served as traveling press secretary. After Obama won the election, Psaki followed Obama to the White House as Deputy Press Secretary and was promoted to Deputy Communications Director on December 19, 2009. On September 22, 2011, Psaki left this position to become senior vice president and managing director at the Washington, D.C., office of public relations firm Global Strategy Group.
In 2012, Psaki returned to political communications as press secretary for President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign. On February 11, 2013, Psaki became spokesperson for the United States Department of State. Her hiring at the Department of State fueled speculation that she would replace White House Press Secretary Jay Carney when he left the White House, but, on May 30, 2014, it was announced that Josh Earnest would replace Carney. In 2015, she returned to the White House as communications director and stayed through the end of the Obama administration.
On February 7, 2017, Psaki began working as a political commentator on CNN
In November 2020, Psaki left CNN and joined the Biden-Harris transition team. Later that month, Psaki was named as the White House press secretary for the Biden administration. She held her first press briefing on the evening of January 20, after the inauguration.
On May 6, 2021, in an interview with former Senior Advisor to the President David Axelrod, Psaki suggested she would depart from the position of press secretary "in about a year from now".
In October 2021, Psaki was accused by a watchdog group of violating the Hatch Act for her comments on the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election.
On November 2, 2021, Psaki announced that she had tested positive for COVID-19. After quarantining, she returned to work on November 12, 2021, after fully recovering, and crediting her vaccination status for her recovery without complications.
On March 22, 2022, Psaki tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time in six months and did not accompany President Biden on his trip to Europe.
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Psaki leaving White House for MSNBC
WASHINGTON — After serving as White House press secretary for more than a year, Jen Psaki will leave the Biden administration for MSNBC, where she will serve as a host and on-air expert. The departure, first reported by Axios, is expected this spring.
Psaki has held near-daily briefings since the start of the Biden presidency, and has generally been praised for her transparency. She had initially said she would stay in her position for a year, but a number of overlapping crises — the coronavirus pandemic, the withdrawal from Afghanistan and, most recently, the war in Ukraine — appear to have extended her tenure.
The news outlet Puck had previously reported that Psaki was in talks with both CNN and MSNBC, and there was even speculation that she might replace MSNBC primetime star Rachel Maddow, who is stepping back from nightly hosting duties.
