White House press secretary Jen Psaki said she wouldn’t have any issues taking questions from Kayleigh McEnany, a newly minted Fox News contributor who served as former President Trump’s press secretary.
On Tuesday, Fox News host Harris Faulkner announced that McEnany would be joining the “Fox family.” Later in the day, a reporter asked Psaki during the White House daily press briefing if she would be willing to sit down with McEnany for an interview.
“Sure,” Psaki replied. “I’ve done ‘Fox News Sunday’ twice now. I’m happy to go on a range of shows.”
Psaki added that she had interacted with McEnany in the past and that they were collegial toward each other despite their political differences.
“I will say that I knew [McEnany] a little bit, not well,” Psaki said. “I met her when we were both CNN contributors, and we did a few shows — I’m not sure how many — together. Like many Americans, we disagree on political issues, but we talked about our families, our spouses, sports, all sorts of things in the green room, and I certainly wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
McEnany was a contributor at CNN and a Republican National Committee spokeswoman prior to signing on as Trump’s press secretary in the spring of 2020.
She was a fierce advocate of Trump in her taxpayer-funded role, defending him from the podium through the coronavirus pandemic response, his removal of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square for a photo op and his efforts to sow doubt about the outcome of the 2020 election.
McEnany made frequent appearances on Fox News over the past two years, including several on prime-time opinion programming where she pushed unsubstantiated claims about widespread election fraud.