The Mirror

Insiders: Jay Carney preparing to leave White House

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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Insiders very close to House White House Press Secretary Jay Carney indicate that he’s on his way out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, The Mirror has learned. Carney has told people he’s leaving the White House soon.

In 2008, Carney became Director of Communications for Vice President Joe Biden. In 2011, he became the nation’s 29th press secretary, President Obama’s second, replacing Robert Gibbs.

Before that, Carney was a journalist for The Miami Herald and later TIME and CNN. In the last 48 hours, Carney has been getting press attention from outlets like The Weekly Standard and the New York Daily News for plugging his wife, ABC’s Claire Shipman‘s, book —“Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success” — during a press briefing. She has a new book on women and confidence co-written with BBC’s Katty Kay rolling out in mid-April.

In March of last year, Mediaite reported that Carney was “stressed and burnt out.” They wondered in a headline, “Time for Carney to go?” At the time, writer Joe Concha reported that Carney had grown more “testy” and “combative” with the press and ticked off a number of examples with the likes of NPR’s Mara Liasson, CBS’ Bill Plante and WaPo‘s George Will. Concha hinted then that Carney could easily be picked up by MSNBC or CNN and reel in a huge salary boost.

The Mirror sought comment from White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest, the man who could very well replace Carney when he makes the jump. He gave the old non-denial denial: “We routinely decline to comment on speculation about personnel matters,” Earnest told The Mirror.