MSNBC, the embattled left-wing network sometimes referred to as "MSDNC," hired another liberal journalist with close ties to the Democratic Party. Jackie Alemany is leaving the similarly embattled Washington Post, where her reporting focused on the Jan. 6 incident and Donald Trump's various legal challenges. She is joining MSNBC as a Washington correspondent and cohost of a new weekend show alongside Jonathan Capehart, a partisan Democrat, and Eugene Daniels, the recently hired "Kamala Harris expert" known for his bold fashion sense and love of Beyoncé.
Alemany is married to Jake Levine, a professional climate activist who served as an adviser to prominent Democrats, including former president Barack Obama, California governor Gavin Newsom, and former president Joe Biden. He's passionate about electric scooters, the "Squad," and Colin Kaepernick.
The couple's wedding in the Hamptons was featured in Vogue. The groom's childhood friend, alleged "musical artist" Geordie Kieffer, performed in assless chaps. It's unclear whether Kieffer's setlist included his hit song "Sex Party," a groovy number about hosting an intimate gathering involving "handcuffs, ball gags, whips and a chain," and a "big fat pile of cocaine."
Levine and Alemany's engagement party was cohosted by Jamie Gorelick, who served in Bill Clinton's Justice Department and as chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council under President Biden. MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski attended, as did former Democratic congressman Henry Waxman (Calif.), according to Politico's Playbook newsletter. Alemany is the daughter of Ellen Alemany, a Democratic donor and titan of the finance industry who served in top leadership roles at CitiBank, RBS Americas, CIT Group, and First Citizens Bank, where she reportedly earned almost $29 million over a two-year period.
"I'm thrilled to join MSNBC’s cohort of exceptional reporters and journalists in covering Washington during this critical period for fair and unflinching journalism," Alemany said in a statement. "MSNBC continues to provide much needed context and insight to consequential stories." (Fact check: What???)
Alemany joins the network amid a massive overhaul under new president Rebecca Kutler, the former CNN executive best known for spearheading the launch of CNN+, the $300 million streaming service that folded in less than a month. MSNBC is desperate to improve its abysmal ratings in the 75-and-under demographic and faces added pressure after parent company Comcast announced its plan to spin off the declining network into a separate company by the end of the year. Kutler has already made sweeping changes to the MSNBC programming schedule after firing Joy Reid, the obnoxious Harvard grad who had some of the worst ratings at the network.
MSNBC's revamped lineup will include several new panel shows. Reid's weekday program is being replaced by a trio of weekend hosts: Symone Sanders, the former Kamala Harris adviser, Michael Steele, the anti-Trump "Republican," and Alicia Menendez, the daughter of convicted felon "Bullion Bob" Menendez. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who earns an annual salary of $25 million to work one night a week, complained that firing Reid and replacing her with three non-white hosts was an "unnerving" and "indefensible" act of racism.
Alemany, who also went to Harvard and shot 6-26 from the three-point range as a member of the women's basketball team, will take over the weekend time slot alongside Capehart and Daniels, who was hired last week from Politico. Daniels made a name for himself in 2024 as the Harris campaign's unofficial spokesman. Capehart, an MSNBC veteran, recently moderated a forum for candidates running for chair of the DNC. He asked the candidates to raise their hands if they believed "racism and misogyny played a role in VP Harris's defeat," and commended them when all eight candidates complied. "That's good, you all pass," he said.
It is not uncommon for professional journalists to be intimately involved with professional Democrats. Karine Jean-Pierre's longtime partner, Suzanne Malveaux, was a veteran correspondent at CNN when Jean-Pierre was named White House press secretary under President Biden. CNN host Dana Bash was married to Democratic operative Jeremy Bash from 1998 to 2007. Washington Post opinion columnist Ruth Marcus is married to Jon Leibowitz, who chaired the Federal Trade Commission under President Obama.