Psaki ‘likely will stay longer’ than year as White House press secretary

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said she will probably stay in her job as press secretary longer than the year that some reports had suggested.

“I have flexibility and can stay longer and likely will stay longer,” Psaki told Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf, during a conference hosted by the Times Thursday.

In January, Psaki told the New York Times she would staff the White House podium for approximately a year, enough time for other diverse candidates in the administration to prepare for the job of press secretary.

“I think there frankly needs to be diverse spaces and voices as communicators,” Psaki told the Times. “Women, certainly, but beyond that.”

Then in early May, Psaki spoke to David Axelrod, host of the CNN podcast “The Axe Files,” about when exactly she might leave.

“I think it’s going to be time for somebody else to have this job, in a year from now or about a year from now,” she told Axelrod.

On Thursday, Psaki told Khalaf that people had mistakenly read an exact deadline into her past discussions about stepping down but added that leaving the job was something she has been considering.

“I think this has been a little bungled out there, [my] walking out the door on day 365…” Psaki said.

“But I think being a part of this period of time lifting future people and also remembering… that I have little kids and I don’t want to miss moments are all factors for me,” she added.