Psaki asked whether she's being courted by CNN and MSNBC
Rumors are circulating about the White House press secretary's future.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki sighed at a question Friday about whether she would confirm a desire to go into television news after she leaves the Biden administration, while not knocking down the rumors.
At the end of Friday's briefing, Today News Africa's Simon Ateba asked, "Can you confirm you are looking for a job at CNN or MSNBC?"
"Uh, I have more than enough on my plate here and so, you can't get rid of me quite yet," Psaki said.
"Sorry, Peter [Doocy], for you on that," she added, addressing the Fox News correspondent. "And so, I will see you all on Monday."
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CNN interim co-president Amy Entelis and CNN+ programming lead Rebecca Kutler traveled to Washington earlier this month to recruit Psaki, followed by NBC News Chairman Cesar Conde and MSNBC President Rashida Jones, Puck's Dylan Byers first reported Wednesday. According to the report, she has interest in hosting her own show, not just being a contributor like she was at CNN from 2017 to 2020.
A source familiar with the situation confirmed the mutual interest to Fox News Digital, saying CNN and MSNBC want to sign Psaki and are in the early stages of talks. Psaki has signaled she will leave the White House some time this year.
The liberal cable outlets are in a "desperate" search for talent, as Byers put it, with both struggling in ratings and trying to fill gaping holes in primetime. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow is on hiatus and is expected to continue to dip in and out of her anchor role to pursue other projects, while CNN fired Chris Cuomo in December, leaving both channels without a reliable star at 9 p.m. ET.
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"It's a sad state of affairs that MSNBC and CNN are fighting over a political operative who normally would be getting a job in PR," one longtime media executive told Fox News Digital.