WASHINGTON. Jen Psaki, Joe Biden’s spokesperson, leaves the White House on May 13, immediately after the visit of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. In his place, the president has appointed another woman, Karine Jean-Pierre, who until now has been the deputy of Psaki and who will now be the first African American and member of the LGBTQ community to fill this role: a choice that further strengthens the diversity of this administration, even if on the podium the number two of Psaki did not appear as solid and convincing. Jean-Pierre, who will turn 45 on August 13, was born in Martinique and grew up in New York, where she graduated from Columbia University. You have worked alongside Biden for years having held high-level political and communications roles in the 2020 election campaign and when she was vice president in the Obama administration.
“Karine not only brings the necessary experience, talent and integrity into this difficult job, but she will continue to drive the Biden-Harris administration’s work communication forward. Jill and I have known and respected Karine for a long time and she will be a strong voice that will speak for me and for this administration “, wrote the president in a note in which he thanked Psaki for having” set the standard for the return of decency, of respect and decorum in the White House briefing room “, as well as” for raising the bar, communicating directly and sincerely with the American people, and maintaining their sense of humor. “
Psaki, according to US media rumors, should switch to progressive MSNBC TV, where he should appear in some shows and lead a program for the Nbc Peacock streaming platform. A parable that unites her to various predecessors of her. No political background: she herself announced last May that she would leave within a year, abandoning a job that she had defined as exhausting, especially if to be reconciled with a family. Psaki, 43, of Greek and Polish descent, mother of two, had entered the upper echelons of American politics under the Obama administration, first as director of communications and then as a spokesperson for the White House. She then she was appointed spokesperson for the State Department, prompting the Russian Foreign Ministry to respond with a female face for the same role, Maria Zakharova.
After a spell as a political commentator at CNN, she ended up under the wing of Joe Biden, who had appointed her as a spokesperson for the White House, at the top of an almost all female communications staff. Renamed “Pepperita Patty” for her iconic red hair, Psaki was the decisive face of the administration in two wars, during the stormy retreat from Afghanistan and in the Ukrainian conflict. But for over a year she has represented the presidency on all fronts flawlessly, without gaffes or smudges, bringing back the normality and the truth in the briefings with reporters after the brawls and manipulations that marked the work of her controversial predecessors. of the Trump era. Jen was the confident face, sometimes smiling, sometimes piqued but nonetheless polite, of the Biden administration, always able to stand up to all questions, even the provocative ones of the journalists of the Trumpian right.