Jen Psaki, the ex-Biden flack who defended his mental fitness, launches expanded role at MSNBC

Former Biden administration press secretary Jen Psaki's more prominent presence on MSNBC comes as the media industry reckons with failing to cover former President Joe Biden’s declining health until it was too late. 

Psaki took over MSNBC’s coveted 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday through Fridays this week as "The Rachel Maddow Show" returned to only airing on Mondays, after Maddow returned to airing five nights a week during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. 

Psaki, who hosted "Inside" on Sundays and Mondays, will now host "The Briefing" at a critical hour that shows faith by network honchos in her straight-talking appeal to liberal viewers.

Yet Psaki largely dismissed concerns about Biden’s advanced age and cognitive abilities during her MSNBC appearances before his frail debate showing last June that led to him exiting the 2024 presidential race.

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At last month’s White House Correspondents' Dinner, Axios reporter Alex Thompson acknowledged that the press fell short in covering the story of Biden's decline. 

"Being truth tellers also means telling the truth about ourselves. We, myself included, missed a lot of this story… Biden's decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception," Thompson said, speaking before a room of journalists from major news outlets. 

Psaki served as Biden's first press secretary from 2021 until May 202, and her defense of the White House made her popular with MSNBC progressives before she landed at the network. However, Psaki has repeatedly insisted she didn’t see any warning signs about Biden behind the scenes.

"I never saw that person —not a single time, and I was in the Oval Office every day, that was on that debate stage," Psaki said last week on the "Mixed Signals" podcast.

"I'm not a doctor," she added. "Aging happens quite quickly."

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Psaki had previously suggested she was "worried" about Biden "as a person" during the infamous debate that put a spotlight on the issue. 

"My first reaction was not, ‘Oh my gosh, Trump is going to win the election.' That was not my reaction. I care about him as a human being. And my first reaction was, I do care about him a lot, was like, ‘Is he OK?’" Psaki said at the Texas Tribune Festival.

"And I don't say that because I was feeling like I was going to go on Twitter and be alarmist, but I care for him as a person," she continued. "I was worried about him as a person." 

Prior to the debate, concerns about Biden’s age and mental acuity were often shot down by White House officials and members of the press – and Psaki falls into both categories. 

In 2023, Psaki brushed off concerns about Biden's age and said he was better than the alternative. 

"Joe Biden isn't perfect. No candidate is, by the way. But we have to understand what the alternative is here. If elected to a second term, Donald Trump would prosecute anyone he deems an enemy, unleash troops on protesters, and essentially unravel the rule of law as we know it, and this time, he plans to align his administration with people who will actually do it. But sure, Joe Biden is three years older and occasionally trips on things," she told MSNBC viewers. 

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Psaki fumed in 2024 when Special Counsel Hur's report on Biden's handling of classified documents indicated he was "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." 

She scolded the Hur report, saying Biden can’t be painted as someone with cognitive issues on some occasions but also as a "smooth operator" when conservatives tie him to "mysterious, unproven corruption."

Psaki asked MSNBC viewers, "How exactly is ‘Sleepy Joe’ overseeing a massive criminal scheme? How is that possible?"

Psaki also blasted the press for spending so much time on Hur’s assessment and reminded viewers that Trump wasn’t particularly young himself. 

"Trump's gaffing is not even close to what the biggest risks of electing him are, and if we continue to focus on questions like who is the bigger gaffe machine, or what is the mental acuity difference between a 77-year-old and an 81-year-old, then we are all doing something very wrong. That is not what this election is about," Psaki said on NBC’s "Meet the Press." 

Psaki had a similar approach in 2022 when she defended Biden’s age, insisting anyone who didn’t think he should seek reelection should consider Trump's seniority as well.

"Just throwing out there. For everyone who is arguing the reason @POTUS shouldn’t run again is because of his age…you know Donald Trump is 76 right?" Psaki posted on X. 

Psaki also defended Biden’s cognitive abilities from the White House briefing room during her time as press secretary.

"I can tell you, having traveled with him a fair amount, sometimes he's hard to keep up with," Psaki said in 2021. 

Psaki has since maintained that people shouldn’t use the term "cover-up" to describe how the White House responded to questions about the president's age prior to the debate debacle, or describe how the media handled the story. 

"'Cover-up' is a very loaded term," Psaki said on the "Mixed Signals" podcast, adding that people typically use that expression when talking about a crime.

"People use that term as related to Watergate. Or the covering up of not sharing public information about a war," she continued. "I think it's a bit of a dangerous term."

The MSNBC host was also hesitant to criticize the media when asked if the press should've been more aggressive in covering the president's health, which turned out to be one of the biggest political stories of the century. Biden's historic exit, the ascension of Kamala Harris to the Democratic nomination, and her subsequent loss to Trump changed history.

"Maybe the media missed a lot," Psaki said, while arguing that it was easier to be critical of press coverage in retrospect. "There were major stories and moments missed."

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She made sure to cover her bases, claiming Biden’s cognition wasn’t noticeably in decline from 2019-2022. 

"While we know there were problematic things behind-the-scenes now in 2023 and 2024, there was an aggressive all-out pitching operation from the right-wing and from the Republicans about Joe Biden's age and how he was in decline… the majority of which wasn't true, in 2019-2022," Psaki said. 

Psaki wrapped up her tenure as press secretary and joined MSNBC in May 2022, which won out for her services over CNN.

As she geared up for the expanded role, Psaki recently said MSNBC viewers expect the network’s primetime hosts to "talk about the opposition" without being particularly friendly to Trump. 

"We’re going to talk about what the opposing party is up to, in terms of Democrats, and we’re going to talk about future leaders and things. And, we’re also going to talk about Trump, and it’s typically not going to be positive," Psaki said on "The Grill Room" podcast with Dylan Byers.

MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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Fox News Digital’s Kristine Park and Madison Colombo contributed to this report.