Former White House press secretary Jay Carney is joining CNN as a political commentator. Carney will contribute across the network starting tonight as part of CNN’s coverage of President Obama’s address on ISIS.
“I’m thrilled to be joining CNN at a time when there is so much happening in the nation and the world,” said Carney.
“Jay’s unique experience as both a journalist and a White House press secretary make him an invaluable voice for the network as we cover the final two years of the Obama Administration and look ahead to the coming campaigns,” says Washington Bureau Chief Sam Feist.
Carney was Pres. Obama’s press secretary from 2011 until June. Before that he was communications director for Vice President Biden. Carney spent 20 years with TIME Magazine where he served as Moscow correspondent, White House correspondent and, Washington bureau chief.
He follows in a long line of White House press secretaries who join the news ranks, including Obama’s first press secretary Robert Gibbs who is an MSNBC analyst and George W. Bush’s press secretary Dana Perino who now hosts “The Five” on Fox News. Bush’s two other press secretaries Ari Fleischer and the late Tony Snow, each joined CNN following their White House runs. Former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers hosted CNBC’s “Equal Time” following her White House stint; Bill Moyers and Pierre Salinger, press secretaries to Pres. Johnson and Pres. Kennedy, respectively, went on to careers as news correspondents at CBS and ABC, respectively.