President-elect Trump may kick the press out of the White House briefing room and into a different space nearby when he takes office, according to a report published Saturday.
Esquire reported that according to three transition officials, the Trump team is kicking around the idea of putting the press in the White House Conference Center or a place in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, located next door to the White House.
Sean Spicer, the incoming White House press secretary, told the magazine “there has been no decision” but the Trump team is trying to figure out how to accommodate more press.
“There’s been so much interest in covering a President Donald Trump,” he said. “A question is: ‘Is a room that has 49 seats adequate?’ When we had that press conference the other day, we had thousands of requests, and we capped it at four hundred. Is there an opportunity to potentially allow more members of the media to be part of this? That’s something we’re discussing.”
However, anonymous individuals who spoke to Esquire said it’s also a hostile move aimed at sending a message to the press.
“They are the opposition party,” a senior official said. “I want ’em out of the building. We are taking back the press room.”
Reporters have been working at the White House itself since President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration, and the current White House briefing room has been the primary home of the press since President Nixon was in office.
The last time the press was removed from the briefing room was during President George W. Bush’s administration when the room was being remodeled.
