Another day, another time to play “if a Trump administration member did this.” Jen Psaki, you’re up.

Apparently, the Biden administration press secretary is ready to move on from her job. (Let’s be honest, her liver probably can’t take any more of the day drinking required to keep shoveling the enormous amounts of bullshit required to be Biden’s press secretary.) Moving on from the job is fine. What’s not fine? The unhealthy and incestuous relationship between Democrat operatives and the media. Like how George Stephanopolous can go from Clinton shill to “respected journalist” at ABC simply because ABC signs the checks. Well, Psaki is reportedly negotiating a cable TV deal with MSNBC, according to Axios.

Psaki is now in exclusive talks with MSNBC, and the deal is nearly final. It was reported by Puck last month that Psaki also had conversations with CNN and that other networks had expressed interest in signing her.”

Psaki will host a show for MSNBC on NBCUniversal’s streaming platform, Peacock.”

She will also be a part of live programming on MSNBC’s cable network as a voice on different shows, but she will not be hosting the 9 p.m. hour replacing Rachel Maddow, which has been speculated.”

Psaki has been in close consultation with the White House counsel's office about her departure, according to two sources familiar with the plans.

She's been treading carefully on the ethics and legal aspects of her plans. https://t.co/UW5Kk5Ee9r

— Axios (@axios) April 1, 2022

Well, this raised some questions yesterday when Psaki held the White House daily presser.

Asked by CBS reporter Ed O’Keefe whether it was “ethical” for her to continue her job at the White House while negotiating with a media outlet, Psaki said, “Well, I have always gone over and above the stringent ethical and legal requirements of the Biden administration and I take that very seriously.”

“As a standard for every employee at the White House, I have received rigorous ethics counseling as it relates to any future employment,” she said. “I’ve complied with all ethics requirements and gone beyond and taken steps to reduce myself from decisions as appropriate.”

Psaki refused to deny or confirm the reports.”

“I have nothing to confirm about my length of public service or planned service or anything about consideration about next plans,” she told reporters, adding that her “focus every day continues to be speaking on behalf of the president.”

Noting reports on the situation that have now been “confirmed by multiple media outlets,” NBC reporter Kristen Welker further pressed Psaki on the ethics of the situation and how she can be “an effective briefer” if she is in current talks with a media outlet.”

“Broadly speaking, is it the policy of this White House to allow staffers to have discussions, even if indirectly with institutions, that impact and affect their jobs and your job here,” Welker asked Psaki.”

Psaki said it “is the policy of this White House to ensure that anyone who is having conversations about future employment does so through consultation with the White House counsel’s office and ensuring they abide by any ethics and legal requirements.”

I find it interesting that the White House press corps actually tried to pin Psaki down a little. After all, she came into the job as a former Obama staffer with a long history of spinning to cover for THAT guy, and the press so LOVED her because she didn’t work for the Bad Orange Man. But daily, repeated exposure to Psaki and her “circle backs” seems to have soured the press room on her. After their adversarial relationships with Sarah Sanders and Kayleigh McEnany, the press corps wanted “one of them” on the platform. They got what they wanted, and then realized that her first loyalty was to the administration, not them. SHOCK!

And now they are learning that, like other press secretaries before her, Psaki’s loyalty is to whomever signs the checks. DOUBLE SHOCK! Those “ethical” journalists in the press room might never recover.

Speaking of ethics, where is the self-appointed guardian of all things ethical during the Trump administration? Brian Stelter had opinions then!

any update on this, Brian, or are you gonna have to hand over that phone? ✍️✍️✍️ pic.twitter.com/zsxpZIdUNJ

— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) April 1, 2022

But now? Be vewy, vewy quiet, Stelter is ignoring wabbits. Funny how he had things to say in 2019, but merely notes that Psaki is going to hang around a little longer in 2022. And if you check his Twitter timeline, Stelter retweeted a few of his colleagues regarding the Psaki news, but was super-duper focused on the news that Will Smith resigned from the Academy of Motion Pictures (after all, he wrote the story on CNN). Clearly, Tater has no desire to hold Psaki to the same standards he once insisted upon for Sean Spicer and Sarah Sanders. We call that “hypocrisy,” Brian.

And Psaki will laugh all the way to the bank. Even if her show tanks, she still made a boatload of cash out of a couple of years’ work on the Biden campaign and in the administration. Not a bad deal, if you can get it. Psaki is making sure she’s getting her fair share before the Democrats go down in flames in November.

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