Several former White House press secretaries have banded together to urge the Trump administration to resume holding regular briefings, noting that Friday marked 305 consecutive days without them.
A group composed of 13 former press secretaries, spokespersons and other government and military officials signed an op-ed seeking a return of the once-routine White House press briefings paused under President Trump.
“We believed that regular briefings were good for the American people, important for the administrations we served and critical for the governing of our great country,” they wrote for CNN.
“We respectfully urge the resumption of regular press briefings across our government, especially in the places where Americans want the truth, our allies in the world want information, and where all of us, hopefully, want to see American values reflected,” their op-ed concluded.
Among the co-signers of the articles are veterans of Republican and Democratic administrations, including former press secretaries for Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, among others.
The White House did not immediately return a message requesting comment.
Sunday marked 300 days since a White House press secretary last held a televised briefing with reporters. Stephanie Grisham, the president’s current press secretary, has not held such a briefing since starting that role in July 2019, and there had been no regular briefing for about four months prior to her taking over from Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Authors Don Winslow and Stephen King have separately pledged earlier this week to donate a total of $175,000 to charity if Ms. Grisham takes questions from the White House press corps for a full hour.
Pressed about their proposal Thursday, Ms. Grisham said that donations to charity should never come with “strings attached,” CNN’s Jake Tapper reported at the time.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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