Symone Sanders hired by MSNBC

MSNBC has hired Symone Sanders, the former chief spokeswoman for Vice President Harris and top aide to President Biden, as a host for a new weekend program.

The title, time slot and format of Sanders’s new weekend show has yet to be determined, but she will also serve as a fill-in anchor on the network and host a show on its streaming service.

Her weekend program will “explore issues at the intersection of politics, culture and race and break down how decisions made in Washington impact electorates, industries, and communities across the country,” the network said. “She will also interview law and policy makers, top government officials, scholars, and thought leaders.”

“I’m a young woman, a young Black woman from the Midwest,” Sanders said in an interview with The New York Times before her hiring had been announced by the network. “Yes, I do politics, but I’m also a consumer of pop culture. I watch the news, I check Twitter, but I’m also into ‘Real Housewives.’ I’m interested in reaching what I call the nonpolitical group chats, the discussions that are penetrating outside of Washington.”

Sanders left the White House at the end of last year after serving alongside Biden for three years, including a stint working as one of the top communications officials on his campaign. She previously worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) 2016 presidential campaign.

“Symone has served honorably for 3 years,” a White House official told The Hill last month, adding Biden and Harris were “grateful for Symone’s service and advocacy.”

Sanders, in the interview with the Times, accused mainstream media outlets covering the Biden administration of “not reporting on the truth,” but rather “reporting on the gossip.”

“I’m going to tell the truth, and sometimes the truth is critical,” she said. “This administration has its critics, just like everyone does — I have my critics — and we’re going to have those conversations.” 

Updated: 1:05 p.m.