1. INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE: Being the White House press secretary has its perks. Jen Psaki isn't yet ready to give up the job she missed out on during the Obama administration. But she has said she'll follow the trend of top spokespeople leaving long before a president's term is up. When that day comes, her predecessors and corporate headhunters say, Psaki can do just about anything.
Here's a peek at how they say Psaki can cash in:
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Her $180,000 salary "will increase dramatically": "A seven-figure total compensation is certainly not out of bounds," Nels Olson, a Korn Ferry vice chair who leads executive searches, told my colleagues.
Psaki has been down this road before: After serving as Obama's final communications director, Psaki worked as a CNN on-air contributor and a senior advisor at two consulting firms: WestExec Advisors and Bryson Gillette. She also founded her own firm, Evergreen Consulting LLC, where she worked with the likes of Lyft and Demand Justice.
Sean Spicer says her background sets her apart from others who've had the top job: Spicer said he never had trouble finding work, despite reports that all the major networks refused to hire him. The former press secretary has some harsh words for the reporters left in the briefing room he once famously used to lie about Donald Trump's inauguration crowd size. He said it's "an embarrassment the way that the White House press corps has conducted themselves as a whole," suggesting reporters are pulling their punches.
3. Top Cuomo aide resigns: Melissa DeRosa, a top aide who frequently appeared with Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York during the coronavirus pandemic, announced her resignation last night, The Wall Street Journal reports. DeRosa was mentioned throughout the 168-page investigative report commissioned by the state attorney general that found Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women. DeRosa was named in connection to an alleged retaliation effort against one of Cuomo's accusers. More on the fallout.
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul is said to be preparing to take over: Hochul has sought advice about what to do if she assumes the state's highest office and which members of Cuomo's administration she would keep on, The Journal reports. Hochul has reportedly told people she could take power as New York's first female governor in a matter of weeks.
4. Florida doctors are reaching their breaking point: On Saturday, nearly 24,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Florida, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, marking an all-time single-day high for the state. More than a year on, doctors and medical workers told my colleagues about the fight's toll on them. "Humanly, you break at some point," one doctor said. "You just emotionally break."
6. Second-largest wildfire in California's history rages on: The Dixie fire has burned more than 463,000 acres and destroyed more than 400 buildings, the Los Angeles Times reports. The fire was only 21% contained as of Sunday morning. Here's the latest.
7. Taliban continue to amass territory: The Taliban have seized three provincial capitals as fighters swiftly retake land around Afghanistan, The New York Times reports. The string of Taliban victories has not changed the White House's view on ending America's longest war. One US official told The Times that the US was unlikely to undo the Taliban's advances.
8. Trumpworld is being tormented by a once dormant legal office: The Department of Justice has stepped up enforcement of a decades-old federal law requiring the disclosure of foreign lobbying, a legacy from Robert Mueller's inquiry that has ensnared Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies. Attorneys and former officials say the office has unprecedented resources. See which people the Justice Department's crackdown is spelling trouble for.
Today's trivia question:Staying with White House press secretaries, which item has been handed down by presidential spokespeople since the Ford administration? Email your guess and a suggested question to me at bgriffiths@insider.com.
Friday's answer: Speaking of the Ford administration, it was President Gerald Ford, an All-American at Michigan, who formed a commission in 1975 to get the AAU, the NCAA, and the US Olympic Committee to hash out their differences. This paved the way for congressional action, which gave the now-US Olympic and Paralympic Committee the sole responsibility of assembling an American Olympic team.
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