President-Elect Joe Biden is set to have an all-female senior White House communications team, multiple outlets reported yesterday (Nov. 29). The team will be led by the Democrat’s campaign Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, who will now serve as his White House communications director.
Democratic spokesperson Jen Psaki will fulfill the role of press secretary, while Center for American Progress CEO Neera Tanden will become the director of the Office of Management and Budget department. All three women worked with former President Barack Obama’s administration.
Karine Jean Pierre, who served as Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris’ chief of staff, will also take on the role of principal deputy press secretary. Other female team members will include Pili Tobar, Ashley Etienne, Symone Sanders and Elizabeth Alexander. According to the Associated Press, this is the first time the White House will have an all-female senior communications team and four of the seven top roles will be filled by women of color.
“Communicating directly and truthfully to the American people is one of the most important duties of a president, and this team will be entrusted with the tremendous responsibility of connecting the American people to the White House,” Biden said in a statement.
“These qualified, experienced communicators bring diverse perspectives to their work and a shared commitment to building this country back better,” he added.
The announcement was shared as Biden’s team begins his transition to take office this January. Despite refusing to concede, Donald Trump and his appointed General Services Administrator allowed the transition process to start last week.
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede because we know there was massive fraud,” Trump claimed to reporters. “As to whether or not we can get this apparatus moving quickly — because time isn’t on our side; everything else is on our side. Facts are on our side; this was a massive fraud.”
Biden’s announcement about his communication team also arrives after news broke about the president-elect injuring his foot. As reported by REVOLT, Biden sprained his right foot while playing with one of his dogs, but is expected to recover soon.