Sean Spicer’s performance as White House press secretary has been under scrutiny since Donald Trump’s inauguration, but the president doesn’t plan on firing him.
“I’m not firing Sean Spicer,” Trump told the attendees of a working lunch at the White House last month, according to the Washington Post published Sunday.
“That guy gets great ratings. Everyone tunes in.”
Nielsen data in February showed Spicer’s press briefings carried on cable news beating the ratings of soap operas on broadcast networks.
His briefings delivered an average of 4.3 million viewers, the Hill reported in February. Fox, CNN and MSNBC saw audiences grow by an average of 10 percentage points when networks showed Spicer’s briefings.
The confrontations between Spicer and the White House press corps during the daily briefings has led to “Saturday Night Live” repeatedly mocking the press secretary.
