President Donald Trump on Friday was vague on the future of White House press secretary Sean Spicer, saying that Spicer was “doing a good job, but he gets beat up.”
He also emphasized, in light of criticism of the White House’s continually changing narrative regarding former FBI Director James Comey’s ouster, that he could simply severely limit press conferences and do them all himself.
“Is he your press secretary today and tomorrow? Will he be tomorrow?” Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro asked Trump in an interview the network partially aired Friday afternoon, referring to Spicer.
“Yeah, he is. He is,” Trump said, before hedging: “Well, he’s doing a good job, but he gets beat up.”
“Will he be there tomorrow?” she asked again.
“Yeah, well, he’s been there from the beginning,” Trump said.
“Is he in the, in the – What do they say, is he in the woods?” she asked.
“He’s getting beat up,” Trump said. “No, he just gets beat up by these people and again you know they don’t show the 90 questions that they asked and answered properly. I’m saying if they’re off just a little bit, just a little bit, it’s the big story.”
“When will you make a decision as to whether or not you’re gonna keep having him?” Pirro asked. Trump didn’t answer.
Earlier, Spirro asked if Trump was “moving so quickly that your communications department cannot keep up with you.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Trump interrupted her.
The White House has faced harsh criticism since Comey’s abrupt firing Tuesday for its changing narratives about the firing.
“What do we do about that, because— ” Pirro began to ask.
“We don’t have press conferences,” he said.
“You don’t mean that,” she said.
“Just don’t have them,” he said after pausing. “Unless I have them every two weeks and I do it myself. We don’t have them. I think it’s a good idea.”
Trump tweeted Friday morning that “As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!”
“Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future ‘press briefings’ and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???” he added.
Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, the White House floated the possibility that it would move the press briefing room out of the West Wing. The press ultimately stayed put.
Watch the exchange below, via Fox News:
This post has been updated.
Please Dear God, let the Asshole-elect give his own daily update at 1:00pm each daily
I’m curious if Trump will wait till Monday to fire Spicer after McCarthy skewers him on SNL tomorrow, or if he will tweet his dismissal Saturday night itself?
Since the Kushners won’t be around to baby sit him, I think I’d put my money on Saturday night.
Has anyone actually confirmed that it WASN’T SpiceBunny running around NYC on the podium, and Melissa McCarthy at the White House?
Donald is the wind beneath Sean’s wing. I’m sure this dream job has been everything he had wished and hoped for.
Did you ever know that you’re my hero,
And everything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle,
For you are the wind beneath my wings.