JeanPierre will be next press secretary

WASHINGTON — Karine Jean-Pierre has been selected to be the next White House press secretary, becoming the first Black person and out gay woman to serve in that role.

Jean-Pierre, 44, will take over the briefing room lectern from Jen Psaki, who will step down May 13, the White House said. Psaki has served as President Joe Biden’s press secretary since he took office in January 2021.

“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 in a statement.

Among others who had been considered for the role were Kate Bedingfield and John Kirby. Bedingfield, the White House communications director and a longtime Biden aide, filled in for Psaki after she tested positive for the coronavirus in late March. Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, is by far the most experienced spokesman within the administration and would have brought an expertise on defense matters to the briefing room at a moment when reporters are focused on the war in Ukraine.

Jean-Pierre, who was born in French Martinique and has been in the administration since Biden took office, will ascend to the administration’s most public-facing role less than a month after the president — alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, a trailblazer in her own right — celebrated the successful confirmation to the Supreme Court of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson, , will become the nation’s first Black woman justice.