White House press secretary Jen Psaki is being hit by criticism from both conservative and liberal media figures — and both say she’s no longer able to do her job properly.
Psaki’s recent expletive-laden rant against Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy, combined with her rumored move to MSNBC in the next coming weeks, has caused a firestorm of backlash.
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Psaki is “making the rounds, she’s going on Pod [Save] America, the far-left Obama guys have their podcast which is popular with liberals,” conservative critic Megyn Kelly said on her radio show Friday. “And while on there she gets asked about Peter Doocy and whether basically, he’s a jerk… they ask her basically if he’s some sort of an a**hole.”
“And she says ‘Oh, he works for a network that feeds its questions to people in a way that would make anybody sound like a jerk,’” Kelly continued. “And I’m thinking to myself: ‘Number one, I’ve worked at Fox News and they actually — unlike NBC News — they don’t feed the anchor the questions.’”
“At Fox News, nobody ever wrote a question for me. Ever,” she said. “Not in a presidential debate, not on a big night, not on my nightly show, and I guarantee you nobody’s writing Peter Doocy’s questions for him.”
Psaki “decides to take a shot at [Doocy] because he’s the only one willing to ask her tough questions.”
According to reports, there has also been huge pushback on the hiring of Psaki to NBC News from journalists working there.
Discontent emerged over the ethics of Psaki getting her own show on MSNBC right after her time in the Biden administration. The concern has become so open, NBC News President Noah Oppenheim was compelled to address the discussions in a phone meeting with Washington-based staff, first reported by CNN.
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Neither MSNBC nor Psaki have publicly confirmed their talks about a role there, but the move is an open secret in Washington. MSNBC has already hired Symone Sanders, former chief spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris, for a job that begins in May.
NBC News has tried to draw distinctions between its journalists and MSNBC, which has beefed up its opinion programming, although that’s an awkward distinction when journalists like Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd both have shows on the cable network.
At least until the situation becomes clearer, NBC News journalists are put in the uncomfortable position of having professional contact with someone who may soon become a colleague.
NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker asked Psaki about her status at a recent White House briefing, saying “is it ethical for you to keep conducting this job while negotiating with a media outlet?”
Without confirming or denying those talks, Psaki said she had already gone “over and above” stringent ethical requirements. Welker followed up twice, asking “how can you be an effective briefer if you do, in fact, have plans to join a media outlet?”
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Psaki said she has taken steps to make sure there is no conflict. While the situation is still in flux, CNN reported that she is not expected to do any on-camera interviews with NBC News or MSNBC personnel, and won’t be involved in decisions about booking administration officials on the networks.
Oppenheim declined an opportunity to discuss the issue, through a spokesman.
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The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.