President Joe Biden is staying in-house to replace departing Press Secretary Jenn Psaki.

Karine Jean-Pierre, currently principal deputy press secretary and assistant to the president, will be the new chief White House spokesperson. Psaki will leave May 13, according to the White House and is expected to join MSNBC.

“Karine not only brings the experience, talent and integrity needed for this difficult job, but she will continue to lead the way in communicating about the work of the Biden-Harris Administration on behalf of the American people,” Biden said. He also thanked Psaki, saying she set the standard for “returning decency, respect and decorum to the White House Briefing Room,” a not-too-veiled reference to the contentious tenure of a series of press secretaries to President Donald Trump, which included pulling the plug on daily briefings altogether.

Jean-Pierre’s resume also includes chief public affairs officer for liberal group MoveOn.org and analyst for MSNBC and NBC. She will reportedly be the first African-American and openly LGBTQ press secretary.

In a related move, Anita Dunn, who had been a senior adviser to the president on communications and legislative strategy, will return in that post.

She is a partner and founding member of Democrat-focused communications firm SKDK, whose messaging includes work on social justice and vaccines, as well as helping elect Democrats to public office. ▪️

FCC chair Ajit Pai has named Tina Pelkey press secretary for the agency.

She will report to the director of the Office of Media Relations, Brian Hart.

Pelkey, onetime press secretary to Republican Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), has more recently been senior vice president at Black Rock Group. Before that she was with Weber Shandwick public relations and DCI Group.

“Tina brings to the job a wealth of media relations experience, a tremendous work ethic, and a lot of energy,” Pai said. “I look forward to working with Tina as a key part of our team. And it goes without saying that it’s nice having another Kansan at the commission.”

Pelkey is a native of Lenexa, Kan., and a graduate of the University of Kansas; Pai grew up in Parsons, Kan.

Previous chair Tom Wheeler’s press secretary, Kim Hart, left last fall.

Saying the White House is not a privately held company, Common Cause has called on Press Secretary Sean Spicer to return to the custom of holding daily, live press briefings, on-camera with live audio.

Common Cause said the White House has had only five on-camera briefings so far in June, with the rest off camera and with delayed audio.

"Televised briefings had been a near-daily occurrence for decades," the group said. "This highly problematic evasiveness with the media comes on top of a disturbing pattern of general hostility exhibited toward the media by White House officials."

The tone has been set from the top, with President Donald Trump branding negative stories as 'fake news' and their outlets in league with Democrats to delegitimize him.

“The White House is not a privately held company, unaccountable to stockholders,” Common Cause president Karen Hobart Flynn said. “The president and his administration serve the people who elected them, yet the Trump Administration’s decision to ban cameras and live audio from an increasing number of daily briefing treats the people, the media and the oath of office as little more than inconveniences.

“This is not how an elected government behaves in a true democracy," she said, mincing no words. "Even on those occasions when cameras are allowed in the briefings, White House spokespeople regularly refuse to answer questions by claiming ignorance on a host of topics including those that a seventh grade civics class could have anticipated. Hiding behind the bully pulpit is a cowardly act far beneath the dignity of the Office of the President.”

The White House Correspondents Association met with Spicer this week to register its concerns about new restrictions.