Politics

Obama picks former Time reporter Jay Carney to replace Robert Gibbs

Jon Ward Contributor
Font Size:

President Obama has chosen Jay Carney, the current spokesman for Vice President Joe Biden and a former Washington bureau chief for Time Magazine, to be his new press secretary, replacing Robert Gibbs.

A White House official confirmed the choice to The Daily Caller.

Carney, 45, beat out several other candidates to the job based in part on the input from Biden, according to ABC’s Jake Tapper. The candidate that many thought would be chosen was deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton, who is the only person to have filled in for Gibbs at White House press briefings.

Carney is reported to have impressed the president during an audition. His extensive contacts with journalists was one of the key factors to his hiring. He will take over the role in mid-February.

Gibbs is leaving to start his own consulting company and has said he will work with Obama’s reelection campaign in an advisory role.

Email Jon Ward and follow him on Twitter