White House Correspondents Insider

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

Spicer Resigns as White House Press Secretary

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

Sean Spicer has resigned as White House press secretary, following President Donald Trump’s appointment of Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci as communications director.

According to a report in the New York Times, the president asked Spicer to remain on as press secretary, but Spicer told Trump he believed hiring Scaramucci was a major mistake.

Scaramucci Expected To Be Named White House Communications Director

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SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci speaks at the 2016 SkyBridge Alternatives “SALT” Conference at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

Multiple news agencies are reporting Friday morning that President Donald Trump has selected his close friend and ally, Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci, to be the new White House communications director.

The director position has been vacant since May, when Mike Dubke resigned after only three months on the job. Since then, press secretary Sean Spicer has assumed most of the responsibilities of this position. NBC News and Axios both report that sources say Spicer is expected to stay on as press secretary.

Scaramucci is a former Goldman Sachs banker and was a member of Trump’s transition team. He is a major Republican donor, having held fundraisers for Scott Walker and Jeb Bush during the 2016 presidential primary, and supported Trump in the general election last year. Known as “Mooch” to his friends, he is a regular guest on Fox News and longtime friend of Sean Hannity.

White House Asked White House Correspondents’ Association to Publicly Rebuke Reporter

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James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. Photo courtesy White House.

White House Correspondents’ Association president Jeff Mason said the White House had requested the association to criticize a specific article and publicly rebuke a particular journalist. Mason made his remarks during a town hall-style meeting where members asked questions of the association board.

“The White House has come to ask me specifically, asking me to intervene or criticize a news organization or a reporter… to release a statement criticizing a reporter’s story. We’ve made clear that’s not our role,” Mason said, without clarifying on when the White House made this request or which article or journalist was involved.

In a follow up after the meeting, Mason elaborated that he thought the White House considered it a role of the association to publicly reprimand its members to hold them accountable.

“I think it’s a reflection of frustration they have with the media and they’ve used the relationship with the board sometimes to take that out, just as we have raised our concern and frustrations with them. Part of that relationship has been drawing boundaries on what we do and don’t do,” Mason stated.

He said the association immediately declined the White House’s request when they asked him to release a statement on the matter.

White House Publicly Criticizes CNN as “Fake News,” Promotes Undercover Video While Admitting Questionable Accuracy

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CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. Photo courtesy Pixabay.

White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Tuesday criticized CNN during a press briefing by saying the network’s alleged “disregard for facts” was “coming directly from the top.”

She also encouraged Americans to watch an undercover sting video produced by conservative James O’Keefe of Project Veritas that showed a CNN health unit producer questioning his network’s coverage of President Trump and Russia, suggesting other important stories have been buried by the news network.

Sanders stated during the press briefing that CNN’s actions are “a disgrace to all of media, all of journalism.”

Turning to the conservative video she promoted during the press hearing, Sanders admitted its accuracy was questionable.

“There’s a video circulating now, whether it’s accurate or not I don’t know, but I would encourage everyone in this room and frankly, everyone across the country, to take a look at it,” she stated.

Commenting on the undercover video, a CNN source said that “It’s silly, it’s been spun up as something it’s not.  [The producer is] a health unit producer in Atlanta. He has nothing to do with Washington politics or the investigative unit.”

CNN viewership has increased 10 percent year-over-year, according to Nielsen ratings from the second quarter released on Tuesday. The network is running in third place in the battle for cable news viewers, behind Fox News and MSNBC, while still ranking in the top ten cable channels overall.

“CNN just posted it’s most-watched second quarter in history,” the network’s communications department tweeted Tuesday in response to criticism from President Trump.

White House Correspondents’ Association Not Satisfied with Off-Camera Briefings

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James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. Photo courtesy White House.

Jeff Mason, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, has announced the organization is “not satisfied” with the halt of daily, televised and recorded White House press briefings.

The White House press team has frequently cancelled or modified daily briefings, such as hosting off-camera sessions, forbidding the use of audio from the briefings, or cancelling them all together on certain days.

“The WHCA’s position on this issue is clear: we believe strongly that Americans should be able to watch and listen to senior government officials face questions from an independent news media, in keeping with the principles of the First Amendment and the need for transparency at the highest levels of government,” Mason said in an email to members of the association.

Members of the White House staff have publicly suggested changes in the daily briefings, and have already changed several aspects from the traditional setting. Changes such as “Skype Seats” where reporters and talk show hosts from across the country are able to ask questions, have been included in some briefings.

Press secretary Sean Spicer defended the administration’s changes and potential alterations to the format of the briefings. “We’re going to do what we can to communicate our message,” Spicer said at Tuesday’s briefing when asked about the frequency of press briefings. “The briefing is one aspect of what we do.”

Correspondents Criticize White House Press Briefings

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James Brady Press Briefing Room, 2007. Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

White House correspondents Monday publicly blasted press secretary Sean Spicer and the administration’s communications team for increasingly conducting off-camera questions-and-answers instead of the standard publicly broadcast press briefings.

Spicer has not held a publicly broadcast White House press briefing in over a week, as Monday he told the press cameras and audio recordings were not permitted throughout the proceedings.

CNN’s Jim Acosta took to the airwaves to criticize this decision by the administration:

“The White House press secretary is getting to a point where he’s just kind of useless. If they’re getting to this point where he’s not going to answer questions or go on camera or have audio, why are we even having these briefings or gaggles in the first place?”

During the briefing, Zeke Miller of Time Magazine challenged Spicer to answer “why our friends in radio and television can’t use this [briefing] live.”
Spicer’s response was that President Trump had made public comments during a photo opportunity with Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, and would again later in the day during a meeting at a technology council meeting.

There were no opportunities during either event for the media to ask President Trump any questions.

During the un-televised and un-recorded press briefing, press secretary Spicer also refused to take questions from CNN’s Acosta. The president and administration has pushed back frequently against stories critical of the administration on CNN, labeling the network as “fake news.”

“It’s off camera and you can’t answer questions?” Acosta yelled toward Spicer as the press secretary walked out of the briefing room.

White House Deliberately Sending Fake News “Leaks” to Journalists

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The White House has been providing intentionally false information and “fake news” to The New York Times, according to White House correspondent Maggie Haberman.

On Twitter, conservative radio talk show host Bill Mitchell posted: “You know what we should do? Start flooding the NYTimes and WAPO tip lines with all kinds of crazy “leaks.”  Then laugh when they print them!”

However, New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman responded that this was already the case, replying “The Trump administration has tried this a few times, sir.  We actually vet these things.”

In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Kyle Pope, editor in chief and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review discusses the greatest threats to a free press today.

“I think the bigger risk right now is of somebody getting duped — intentional misdirection or fabricated leaks. In this climate, that is more what I would be worried about.”

President Trump has frequently criticized the mainstream media, and particularly The New York Times, saying recently in an interview with a conservative blog that the Times’ “intent is so evil and so bad” that “they write lies.”

Trump Contradicts White House Press Team, Threatens to End All White House Press Briefings, Hints Recordings May Exist

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Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

In a week dominated by the news of President Trump firing former FBI director James Comey late Tuesday, the narrative from the White House and its supporters has been inconsistent and unclear, ranging from contradictory and misleading to adversarial.

Since Comey’s dismissal, the explanation and reasoning from White House press staff has been constantly evolving. Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during Wednesday’s press briefing that the president fired the former FBI director after receiving such recommendation from the Department of Justice. This argument has also been aggressively stated by others in the White House, including Vice President Mike Pence and special advisor Kellyanne Conway.

President Trump contradicted his press team Thursday night during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt.

“I was going to fire Comey – my decision,” Trump said. “There is no good time to it, by the way. I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.”

Facing backlash on Thursday, Sanders stated she had answered questions based on facts as she had understood it at the time.

“I didn’t ask that question directly, ‘had you already made that decision.’ I went off of the information that I had when I answered your question,” Sanders stated during Thursday’s press briefing.

In response to the confusion and contradictory statements coming from White House staff and supporters, President Trump has suggested he may end all press briefings.

In addition, the president hinted that there possibly could be recordings of conversations he held with Comey in the White House.

The White House press office has not yet commented on the existence of recordings between the two individuals.

Greta Van Susteren One-on-One with WH Press Sec Sean Spicer at the Newseum

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Photo courtesy Haddad Media

The Newseum hosted a landmark event on Tuesday, The President and the Press: The First Amendment in the First 100 Days. As part of the series of talks, Greta Van Susteren interviewed White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who address his role in the Trump administration, the next policy pushes from the White House, and some of the recent comments he made that have made news.

Sean Spicer said of tax reform, “it’s going to take some months,” before we see a plan.

Spicer also offered an apology for his comments about World War II from the previous day saying, “I have let the president down,” and calling his comments “inexcusable.”

Van Susteren asked about the White House’s decision to skip the Correspondent’s Dinner this year. According to Spicer, “This is not the appropriate year to go…I don’t think we should fake it.”

First Lady Names Stephanie Grisham as Communications Director

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

Melania Trump has named Stephanie Grisham as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications to the First Lady. In this role, Grisham will lead all communications on behalf of the First Lady.

“Stephanie is a wonderful addition to the team. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the job, and will be an incredible asset to my office as we build out our agenda, preserve our country’s rich traditions, and serve the American people,” said the First Lady in a written statement.

Grisham currently serves as Deputy Press Secretary in the White House, transitioning to the First Lady’s office in the coming weeks. She was the former press secretary for the Arizona House of Representatives and has over a decade of experience working in communications, logistics and media relations. During the campaign, she was responsible for securing and running the campaign’s press plane, which travelled independently of then-candidate Donald Trump.

“I am honored by the opportunity to serve as the First Lady’s Director of Communications,” said Grisham. “Mrs. Trump’s life story is an inspiration to millions of mothers and female entrepreneurs, and to me personally. I deeply respect and admire her commitment to our country, her family, and to the important role of the First Lady. I look forward to helping her communicate her unifying message of kindness and empowerment.”

According to recent reports, Melania Trump will move to the White House from New York City in June, after the school year for her 10-year old son ends.