White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham confirmed Monday daily press briefings will not be reinstated under her leadership, citing the behavior of journalists who “weren’t being good to” President Trump’s administration.
During an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Ms. Grisham said briefings would not be returning “right now” and wouldn’t come back unless the president felt they were necessary.
“He’s doing just fine,” she said, “And to be honest, the briefings have become a lot of theater, and I think a lot of reporters were doing it to get famous. They’re writing books now, they’re all getting famous off of this presidency.”
“They weren’t being good to his people,” Ms. Grisham continued. “[Mr. Trump] doesn’t like that. He is very loyal to his people and he put a stop to it.”
Members of the White House press corps have gone 195 days without an official press briefing.
Once a daily occurrence, the briefings were slowly phased out and eventually stopped completely under previous press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
After Ms. Grisham took over, she said she’d be open to reinstating press briefings but said it’s “up to the president.”
Despite this, Ms. Grisham lauded the president’s accessibility by giving Oval Office pressers and scrums outside his chopper.
“He is his own best spokesperson, that’s true, and the most successful president in history as all of the media knows,” she said.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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