White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a contentious exchange with a reporter on Thursday that it was the “silliest thing” to equate his press briefings with President Donald Trump’s tweets.
SiriusXM White House correspondent Jared Rizzi asked Spicer during his daily briefing about top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway’s comment on Tuesday that the President “doesn’t have time to tweet about everything.”
“Something she said to CNN earlier this week is that the President doesn’t comment on everything,” the reporter said. “I want to contrast the President’s repeated statements about Nordstrom with the lack of comments about some other things, including, for example, the attack on Quebec’s mosque and other similar environments. Why is the President, when he chooses to—”
“I literally stand at this podium and opened a briefing a couple days ago about the President expressing his condolences,” Spicer interrupted. “I literally opened the briefing about it. So for you to sit there and say—”
“I was here!” the reporter interjected.
“I know, so why are you asking why he didn’t do it when I literally stood here and did it?” Spicer asked.
“I’m talking about the President’s statement—” the reporter said, speaking over Spicer.
“I don’t understand what you’re asking,” Spicer said.
“Kellyanne’s comments were about how the President doesn’t have time to tweet about everything,” the reporter said. “He’s tweeting about this. He’s not tweeting about something else.”
“I came out here and actually spoke about it and said the President—” Spicer said.
“We’re talking about the President’s time,” the reporter interjected.
“What are you—you’re equating me addressing the nation here and a tweet? I don’t, I mean that’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. OK. This is silly,” Spicer said, speaking over the reporter. “Next. OK. Thank you. You’ve asked your question. Thank you.”
