After being elected by the American people to lead the nation for the next four years, President-elect Joe Biden has been getting his staff and administration together to start the official transition to the Oval Office. In the process of doing so, according to reporting by the DailyMail, three contributors from MSNBC are contributors no more and one commentator from CNN has left the on-air position. All four have left their respective positions to join the Biden administration.
MSNBC legal expert Barbara McQuade, political analyst Richard Stengel, and health expert Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel will no longer be paid by the network after agreeing to become part of the president-elect’s new transition team. The commentator from CNN, Jen Psaki, has also joined the Biden-Harris team as a senior adviser.
All of the former MSNBC contributors will be invited back but as unpaid guests with the network giving full disclosure about their involvement with the Biden administration.
In addition to Biden adding these contributors to his team, he has already announced plans of creating a new task force dedicated to containing and combating the spread of COVID-19 or the novel coronavirus, pandemic. This week, the Biden-Harris campaign announced that Yale School of Medicine professor Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith will be co-chair of the new initiative.
“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” said President-elect Biden in a press statement. “The advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”