White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

Spicer Regrets Arguing With Reporters Over Inauguration Crowd Size

By

James Brady Press Briefing Room. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer regrets berating journalists during his first White House press briefing in January.  During this session, Spicer had aggressively asserted the inauguration crowd size was the largest ever.

“Of course I do, absolutely,” Spicer admitted during an interview Monday with the New York Times.

During the first official appearance in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, Spicer announced that “[t]his was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period.  Both in person and around the globe.”

Photos and videos of the inauguration showed fewer people gathered on the National Mall than for former President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration.  Additionally, Nielsen data suggests the television audience for the Trump inauguration fell below numbers for both Presidents Reagan and Obama.

Spicer made a surprise guest appearance at the Emmys on Sunday to make fun of this notable first briefing.  Appearing at the end of Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue, the former press secretary emerged on stage pushing a mobile podium similar to one used by Melissa McCarthy in a popular Saturday Night Live skit.

“This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period.  Both in-person and around the world,” Spicer responded to Colbert.

“This was an attempt to poke a little fun at myself and add a little bit of levity to the event,” Spicer explained during in his interview with the New York Times.

Connie Milstein, Kristi Rogers, and Rachel Pearson’s Inaugural Salute to the Senate on the Eve of Inauguration

By

Connie Milstein toasts the Senators, Haddad Media

The spirit of bipartisanship was in the air at The Jefferson hotel on the eve of the inauguration. Many of the city’s top media stars, politicos, and diplomats, came together Thursday, January 19 to toast the Senate. Hosted by Connie Milstein, Rachel Pearson, and Kristi Rogers, this event was a rare evening as multiple Senators including Tim Kaine, Amy Klobuchar, Chris Coons, Bob Corker, Deb Fischer, James Lankford, Gary Peters, Mark Warner, and Hawaii’s newest Senator Brian Schatz. House members included Maryland’s Dutch Ruppersberger and Michigan’s Debbie Dingell.

Rachel Pearson and Kristi Rogers lead the toast which celebrated the efforts of everyone in the room to end gridlock in Congress.

The diplomatic corps were well represented at the event. British Ambassador Kim Darroch and Claire Darroch, UAE Ambassador Yousef al Otaiba, German Ambassador Peter Wetting and Huberta von Voss-Wittig, and Australian Ambassador Joe Hockey.

Former House Intelligence Chair Mike Rogers, now CNN contributor and radio host, Time Warner’s Carol Melton, Uber’s Niki Christoff, and Lafayette 148’s King Chong joined Steve Clemons, Jeremy and Robyn Bash, Raoul Fernandez, and Heather Podesta.

Washington favorites Kelley McCormick, Polson Kanneth, Melissa Moss, Holly Page, Daniel Lippman and his sister Nadia Szold, Greta Van Susteren and John Coale mixed with out-of-towners MD Anderson’s Dr. Ron DePinho, his wife Dr. Lynda Chin, and media writer Michael Wolff.

Connie Milstein is the proprietor of the Jefferson Hotel and the founder of Dog Tag Bakery.

National Mall Media Village Space Available During Inauguration

By

CNBC newsroom. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee recently announced the availability of space at a Media Village Press Filing Center on the National Mall for inaugural coverage.

The Village will be located on the National Mall at 12th Street SW, between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive, near the Smithsonian Castle.

Only credentialed media will be allowed access to this space.

Requests for space at the National Mall Media Village must be submitted by Wednesday, January 11 at 5:00 P.M.  Reservations can be made to the Inaugural Committee by clicking here.

Ann Hand Releases Inaugural Gift Collection

By

Inauguration Scene By White House photo by Paul Morse [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. Jewelry

An American staple and the go-to jewelry designer to Washington, DC’s most famous residents and visitors, Ann Hand has been accessorizing women and men for the past three decades.

Hand continues her tradition of creating inaugural jewelry celebrating the swearing-in of another president.  She predicts that it is “going to be interesting to watch this incredibly different family.” Her $75 “Made in America” Trump inaugural pin is already on back order. “The factory is rushing to do as many as they can.”

“My jewelry reflects our pride in government, the military, our faith, our family and the various organizations, corporations and charities that make up the national tapestry of our country and the values we hold dear,” she recently stated.

In 1993, Hand received her first commission to design a brooch commemorating the reinstatement of the Freedom statue atop the US Capitol. Since then she has received dozens of commissions from a wide variety of groups, corporations, and national organizations such as the Smithsonian, the White House, the Departments of State and Defense, all of the branches of the United States Military, the Ritz Carlton, Mount Vernon, the National Historic Trust, and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

You can see Ann’s fabulous work and find more information on ordering from her jewelry collection celebrating President-elect Trump’s upcoming inauguration at AnnHand.com.

Incoming White House Press Secretary Says Media Doesn’t Understand Trump’s Twitter

By

Daniel Lippman, Tammy Haddad, Sean Spicer. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer called on the nation to support the president-elect, instead of focusing and criticizing on his Twitter account.

“So the idea is everyone wants to talk about the tweets he sent. But I would actually focus on the action he’s getting. Donald Trump is not president yet and he’s getting action, successes and wins, both abroad and here at home,” Spicer said.

Spicer explained the media’s focus on Trump’s Twitter account, saying his tweets “freaks the mainstream media out,” because it marginalizes them.

“I think it freaks the mainstream media out that he has this following of over 45-plus million people that follow him on social media, that he can have a direct conversation. He doesn’t have to have it funneled through the media,” Mr. Spicer said. “Business as usual is over, as I’ve said before. There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s going to do things first and foremost for the American people.”

Members of the press have called on the incoming president and his team to cease hostilities toward the press, and pledge continuing access for the media to his administration.

Masters in Politics: RNC’s Sean Spicer Discusses Trump’s Victory

By

In the latest episode of Bloomberg’s Masters in Politics podcast Tammy Haddad and Betsy Fischer Martin interviewed RNC Communications Director and Chief Strategist Sean Spicer, as well as Megan Murphy, the Washington Bureau Chief and Executive Editor of Bloomberg News.

At the start of the podcast, Spicer discussed the reaction inside the campaign and among Republicans across the country following Donald J. Trump’s election as President this week.

“We felt really good. We had strong data. Our turnout numbers for spot on. I think there’s no question that no one saw the totality of this and the magnitude of it. Not just for him but up and down the ballot.  We held the Senate and we held the House, but we picked up states around the country.”

He continued, discussing why Hillary Clinton — seen as inevitable leading up to Election Day — lost her campaign for the White House.  “I don’t think people trusted her. I don’t think they thought she was authentic and I think that she had a set of rules for her and one for everyone else.”

Daniel Lippman, Tammy Haddad, Sean Spicer. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

Daniel Lippman, Tammy Haddad, Sean Spicer. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

Turning attention to Melania Trump, Spicer described what he saw as her strengths as incoming First Lady.

“I think she’s going to be a very gracious, very strong representative of our country and  when you hear her talk about her story of coming to this country and how much it meant to her, I think she could be such a champion of what it means to come to this country and the values and freedom that we have.”

In the second half of Masters in Politics, Fischer Martin and Haddad discussed the political lay of the land with Washington Bureau Chief and Executive Editor of Bloomberg News Megan Murphy.

Listen to the Masters in Politics Podcast

Photos from Cafe Milano's Inaugural Bash

By

In case you were with us during Inauguration Day, Cafe Milano was still in full swing on Monday after Sunday’s Bipartisan Brunch. Hosted by
Robert Johnson (The RJL Companies), Gina Adams (FedEx) and Milano’s own Franco Nuschese. The Hill mentioned the event in their wrap-up of Inaugural activity. Georgetown Dish was there to hear Franco give a few Inaugural words to the packed room:

“Earlier today, we heard President Obama’s soaring words of inspiration. We now look hopefully for the most strident of the election rhetoric to fade and for all of our leaders of both parties to join in maximizing the greatness and opportunities of our country.”

Check out the slideshow above to see who else was at the Georgetown soiree.

Photos: The Daily Beast Bipartisan Brunch

By

Over the Inaugural, The Newsweek Daily Beast Company did the impossible in D.C.: they got both the left and the right to compromise. Not at the Capitol, however, but at Café Milano in Georgetown thanks to brunch. The “Bipartisan Brunch” went toe-to-toe against a luncheon hosted Google, Elle and Center for American Progress‘”Leading Women in Washington,” featuring leading women including the top elected representatives and ABC‘s own soiree at the Top-Of-The-Hay.

Hosted by Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown, Presidential Inaugural Committee Co-Chair Eva Longoria, The Weinstein Company’s own Harvey Weinstein, Mark McKinnon and Pamela Thomas-Graham. Why do it?

‘It was just absolutely time that the sharks and the jet had a party,” Brown told Yeas & Nays, making her way through the packed restaurant.’

Other notables include actress Rosario Dawson, Piers Morgan,Andrea Mitchell,Kerry Washington,Gayle King and more are just behind our slideshow.

WHC Insider/Third Way/Huffington Post Inaugural Reception Gallery

By

WHC Insider/Third Way/Huffington Post

Why yes, we did co-host an event at the Old Ebbitt Grill yesterday where Huffington Post‘s HuffPostLive and Third Way.

Whether HuffPost was interviewing Miss America Mallory Hagen or the official swearing-in liveblog. Among the invited crowd included Beltway mainstays like Delaware Governor Jack Markell, former Rep. Ellen Tauscher and former MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman. There was also Uber founder Travis Kalanick and “White Collar” actor Matt Bomer. Variety came by to profile how Hollywood and the Beltway have more in common than they’d think:

“Some veteran Washington figures who have been pushing for compromise — even as the town descended into even greater gridlock — saw Obama’s inaugural address as infused with the message that even if post-partisanship fell short, in many ways change didn’t.

‘He knows he can’t force the Republicans to do things, but he is going to try and he is going to use the power of this office, which is considerable, to move them in that direction,’ said Matt Bennett, VP of public affairs and co-founder of Third Way, a centrist Democratic org. ‘But mentioning Stonewall, and mentioning gay equality that explicitly twice in an inaugural address, marks a sea change in American politics where these things went from being the fringes to literally in the center of what an inaugurated president was talking about in his address.”

You can see more of our best and brightest in the slideshow below:

Insider Round-Up for the Day After The Inauguration

By

The Inaugural is over and now Capitol Hill can (supposedly) get back to business. Here’s what you need to read so you too can say, “What about the Al Roker snub?”

  • Al Roker got snubbed by ‘interviewed’ President Obama and Vice President Biden while walking to the parade box.
  • Photobombs were dropped left and right during the ceremonial swearing-in. From Bill Clinton to Joe Biden and even “Grumpy” Gohmert made an appearence.
  • At our event with Huffington Post and Third Way, we had Old Ebbitt Grill staples like mini-lobster rolls, chicken empanadas, tuna tartare, oysters, chorizo and manchengo…oh, the list goes on. Even the Inaugural Luncheon sounded good. While our event was fantastic according to Variety, the Inaugural Ball itself got the short end of the culinary stick with Presidential Cheez It.
  • The stars came out to the district according to Politico:

    “Guests who had less trouble getting to the event, held at the Harman Center for the Arts, included the Goo Goo Dolls, Richard Kind, Tim Daly, Melissa Leo (wearing a maroon velvet pantsuit), Evan Handler and Wayne Knight. Knight of ‘Seinfeld’ fame applauded President Barack Obama for speaking ‘from his heart’ during his inaugural address. Handler, known for his role on ‘Sex and the City,’ agreed. ‘He did a great job with his speech,’ the actor said.”

  • People were definitely not shouting “Boo-urns” at Rep. Paul Ryan according to the Huffington Post. (It was “Boo!”)
  • Beyoncé lip-synched at the Inaugural. Let the Internet go crazy!