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Jay Carney, the former spokesman for President Barack Obama, is joining CNN as a political commentator, the network announced on Wednesday.
Carney, 49, was Obama’s main spokesman for three years. The president announced his departure in May.
CNN announced plans to put Carney on the air right away, to analyze the president’s planned speech Wednesday night about confronting the militant group Isis. Carney also would be highly deployable around the midterm elections in November.
“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,” said Sam Feist, Washington CNN bureau chief, in a statement first obtained by Politico. “We’re fortunate to have Jay on our air tonight to provide analysis and insight surrounding the President’s address to the nation.”
Carney expressed his excitement at the move. “I’m thrilled to be joining CNN at a time when there is so much happening in the nation and the world,” he said in a statement.
The former press secretary is stepping through a revolving door with his return to the media fold. Before joining the Obama administration as vice-president Joe Biden’s spokesman in 2008, Carney was the Washington bureau chief for Time magazine.
Carney was preceded in his job as press secretary by Robert Gibbs, who stepped down to work on the president’s reelection campaign and now runs a New York-based communications firm.
Carney grew up in Virginia and New Jersey and is married to Claire Shipman, a journalist with ABC News. The couple has two kids.
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