• by Ray Schultz , October 25, 2021

Politico has appointed Jonathan Lemire as its Washington bureau chief, the digital news site announced on Monday. 

In addition, Politico has appointed Max Tani as a member of its West Wing Playbook team, effective this December. Tina Sfondeles, who had been reporting  for West Wing Playbook, will be shifting full time to Politico’s White House team.

Lemire will be doing triple duty, also hosting MSNBC’s “Way Too Early” show, starting at 5 a.m., and writing a book: “THE BIG LIE: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics after 2020," that will be out in fall 2022.

“Jonathan comes to us from The Associated Press, where he covered two presidential administrations, first Donald Trump and now Joe Biden,” Politico White House Editor Sam Stein and Editor-in-Chief Matt Kaminski state in an announcement. 

Prior to joining AP in 2013, Lemire worked at the New York Daily News for more than a decade. 

Tani been a reporter for The DailyBeast since 2018. Prior to that, he covered politics and media for Business Insider and helped launch Slate’s podcast "Working."

Axel Springer announced last week that it has completed its purchase of Politico from publisher Robert Allbritton. The deal, announced in August, includes Politico,Politico’s 50% interest in Politico Europe, Protocol, E&E News and Agency IQ.