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Amazon just hired former Obama press secretary Jay Carney

Amazon just hired former Obama press secretary Jay Carney

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Jay Carney, who served as the 29th White House Press Secretary under President Obama for over three years, is now an Amazon employee. Politico reports that Carney has been appointed VP of corporate affairs, a new role that will give him oversight of Amazon's PR and public policy divisions. He is scheduled to begin work on Monday, according to the report. The Verge has reached out to Amazon for confirmation of Carney's hiring.

Carney, who has a background in journalism and worked at Time for several years, succeeded Robert Gibbs — the first press secretary of Obama's administration. He served from February 11th, 2011 through June 20th, 2014. Following his resignation last year, it was briefly rumored that Apple had interest in bringing Carney on as its new head of PR after longtime chief Katie Cotton departed the company, a move that was eventually debunked. But now he's essentially filled a similar role for Amazon. Carney will split his time between Amazon's Seattle headquarters and Washington, according to Politico.