White House Press Secretary

Jen Psaki held her last briefing as White House press secretary on Friday as she prepares to become the highest-profile White House official to depart the Biden administration.

Psaki, whose last day on the job is Friday, has answered reporters’ questions nearly every weekday of the almost 500 days that Biden has been in office. That makes her a top White House communicator and perhaps the administration’s most public face, behind only the president and Vice President Kamala Harris. Her departure could complicate how Biden’s message gets out at a critical time for him, at least in the short term.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that she has tested positive for Covid-19. She issued a statement on Sunday in which she said that she last saw President Joe Biden on Tuesday, “when we sat outside more than six-feet apart, and wore masks.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s first news conference with reporters on Wednesday stood in stark contrast to Sean Spicer’s first time before reporters four years earlier. Spicer made the plainly false claim that President Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd was the largest in history, which he later said he regretted. Psaki’s session was sedate, even boring at times, due at least in part to the newness of the administration.

Biden campaign communications director Kate Bedingfield will serve as Biden’s White House communications director. Jen Psaki, a longtime Democratic spokeswoman, will be his press secretary.

President Trump’s new press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has made her presence quickly felt at the White House, reviving the press briefing and taking on an outsized role in messaging the administration’s response to the novel coronavirus in the throes of an election year. McEnany, 32, possesses many of the qualities valued by her boss — she’s not intimidated by the media, she’s poised and good on television, and she’s a vociferous defender of the Trump agenda.

Kayleigh McEnany, President Trump’s fourth press secretary, offered the first news briefing in 417 days on Friday, pledging at its outset, “I will never lie to you, you have my word on that.” That was soon tested over her assertions that the president has always told the truth regarding sexual assault allegations made against him.

Kayleigh McEnany, a campaign spokeswoman, replaces Stephanie Grisham, who had the job for nine months, and will return to Melania Trump’s staff.

New White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is reportedly considering replacing Stephanie Grisham, who has held the post of press secretary and communications director since last July. Pentagon spokesperson Alyssa Farah or Trump campaign spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany are under consideration to step into the role, Axios reports.

Jack Shafer: “His coronavirus briefings reminded anybody who was paying attention how much value news consumers used to get from them, before the Trump administration turned the daily White House briefing into a misinformation event under press secretaries Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. When Stephanie Grisham took the job, she essentially ended them.”

Margaret Sullivan: Given that Stephanie Grisham has never held a briefing since she got the title of White House press secretary last July, is she really a press secretary? Grisham seems unaware — or simply doesn’t care — that she actually works for the American people and is paid with their tax dollars.

Stephanie Grisham, a top aide to First Lady Melania Trump, will be the next White House press secretary, replacing Sarah Huckabee Sanders and taking on an elevated role as President Donald Trump’s communications director.

Trump has changed the role of White House press secretary to the point where it’s no longer necessary, say experts.