In the lead-up to Sunday’s launch of Inside with Jen Psaki, MSNBC boss Rashida Jones hosted a private dinner party on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. to officially welcome the network’s newest member to its weekend team.
The 25-person dinner party held at Maydan included a mix of off-air and on-air MSNBC staffers like Rebecca Kulter, Andrea Mitchell, Jonathan Capehart, Psaki’s executive producer, Alex Lupica, and her former colleague at the White House and weekend host Symone Sanders.
Politicians like Senior Advisor to the President of the United States Anita Dunn, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, accompanied by his wife Tanya Mayorkas, also attended, as did the Ambassador of France Laurent Bill.
After receiving a welcoming toast from Jones, Psaki remarked, “People often say, ‘It‘ll be so different working in government and working in media.’ And, yes, there are a lot of differences. But the thing that I have found in common — which is a tribute to everybody at this table — is that in both, there are a lot of people who are smart, curious, interested in learning more and telling the world about it and trying to make the world a better place in some way. And that’s what I come to this job doing and hoping to do.”
Psaki’s new program, which debuts on Sunday at 12 pm ET and streams the following day on Peacock, will leverage her wide-ranging expertise to tackle the week’s most significant issues, featuring one-on-one interviews with newsmakers.
Guests on the show’s inaugural broadcast include House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.