President Trump said Tuesday that he told White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders to stop giving daily press briefings due to dishonest and hostile reporting.
“The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the ‘podium’ much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press,” Trump tweeted. “I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!”
The tweet followed White House spokesman Hogan Gidley’s Tuesday morning appearance on Fox News, during which Gidley avoided giving a direct answer on why the briefings gradually tapered off last year.
Gidley offered an explanation similar to one Sanders herself has offered when asked: that Trump’s frequent social media posts and interactions with reporters make briefings unnecessary.
But Gidley also suggested that briefings may resume, despite there being none yet in 2019, aside from an early January presidential address from the briefing room podium, without questions.
“It’s not that they ever stopped but sometimes we see a need to come to the podium to communicate things and sometimes we don’t,” Gidley said during the interview. “A lot of times when we don’t come to the podium it is because the president addressed American people himself.”
“She’s gonna come back when she finds a reason to do that,” Gidley said. “Sarah Sanders will absolutely be back to the podium talking to the press and delivering the message to the American people.”
[Related: Under Trump, number of White House press briefings has sunk to historic low]
