Jen Psaki Hit with Questions About Ethics After Report of Massive NBC Deal Goes Public

White House press secretary Jen Psaki struggled to answer questions about her ethical standards on Friday after a report surfaced that she was negotiating a massive contract with NBC News.

Psaki was first questioned by CBS reporter Ed O’Keefe about the reports of a media deal negotiated with NBC/MSNBC.

“Well you can’t get rid of me yet, Ed,” Psaki quipped. “I have nothing to confirm about my length of public service, or planned service, or anything about consideration about next plans.”

Psaki, who spent the last week quarantined at home after testing positive for coronavirus, said she was “very happy” to return to the podium at the White House.

“Believe or not, I missed you all a lot,” she said.

She repeated she was in no position to confirm reports about a media deal, and said she would continue to focus on speaking on behalf of the president and taking “tough” questions from reporters.

“I hope that I meet my own bar of treating everybody with fairness and being equitable,” she told reporters.

NBC reporter Kristen Welker asked Psaki if it was ethical to continue her job even while negotiating with a media outlet (ironically the same media outlet employing Welker as a White House reporter).

“I have always gone over and above the stringent ethical and legal requirements of the Biden administration and I take that very seriously,” Psaki replied, repeating she took “rigorous ethics counseling” while serving at the White House.

“I hope that all of you — I’ve been working with you for some time — would judge me from my record and how I treat all of you both in the briefing room and otherwise,” she said.

She claimed she “tried her best” to take questions from a range of reporters.

“I try to answer questions from everybody across the board,” she said.

But Welker followed up by asking her future colleague again about the ethics of the situation.

“How can you continue to be an effective briefer if indeed you have plans to join a media outlet?” she asked.

Psaki repeated she had “nothing to announce” about her future career, stressing she would spend time with her family if and when she decided to leave the White House.

“At whatever time I leave the White House, I can promise you the first thing I’m going to do is sleep and spend time with my three- and six-year-old, who are my most important audience of all,” she replied.

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