Biden to hit ground running with Greek pick

Greek-American political advisor and communications expert Jen Psaki has been named press secretary in US President-elect Joe Biden’s new all-female White House communications team.

Psaki was the White House communications director under president Barack Obama from 2015 to 2017 and had previously been spokesperson for the US Department of State, among other roles.

“Honored to work again for @JoeBiden, a man I worked on behalf of during the Obama-Biden Admin as he helped lead economic recovery, rebuilt our relationships with partners (turns out good practice) and injected empathy and humanity into nearly every meeting I sat in,” Psaki said in a post on Twitter.

According to Politico, Psaki emerged after she was being considered among other top contenders for the role, including Symone Sanders and Karine Jean-Pierre who went on to fill other top positions.

Psaki was said to have a strong rapport with the former vice president combined with her expertise on economic and foreign policy issues and her experience conducting high-profile press briefings, multiple people familiar with the selection said according to Politico.

Some critics pointed out that Psaki and other seasoned professionals could be standing in the way of younger campaign loyalists who worked hard during a very tough pre-election period, with political pundits pointing out the Biden administration needed to hit the ground running while they might need some on-the-job training before taking over in months rather than years.

“Communicating directly and truthfully to the American people is one of the most important duties of a President, and this team will be entrusted with the tremendous responsibility of connecting the American people to the White House,” Biden said in a statement on the naming of the first-ever all-female communications team in US history.