White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Monday gave her first on-camera press briefing in 42 days, ending the longest gap between televised White House briefings in recent history.
The previous record was set by … Sarah Sanders.
That one totaled 41 days, according to the University of California, Santa Barbara’s American Presidency Project, and ended when she hosted her only other briefing of 2019, in January.
Formerly called “daily” press briefing, the forum became increasingly rare last year. White House press aides said it was more important for reporters to hear directly from President Trump, who frequently gives interviews and answers questions at events.
Earlier this year, Trump said he directed Sanders “not to bother” with the briefings because “the press covers her so rudely [and] inaccurately.”
Sanders’ most recent briefings were on Jan. 28, Dec. 18, Nov, 27, and Oct. 29.
[Related: Under Trump, number of White House press briefings has sunk to historic low]
The briefing on Monday featured both Sanders and Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Russell Vought. It followed the unveiling of a budget proposal that included cuts to non-military spending while securing Mexico border wall funds.
Although there have been few briefings in the designated White House briefing room, Sanders has continued to regularly take questions during impromptu appearances, often on the driveway north of the West Wing, when she walks back to her office following TV interviews by the White House driveway.
Some White House reporters say that briefings are a good opportunity to get additional information, but critics of briefings, including Sanders predecessor Sean Spicer, said they devolved into confrontations starring reporters seeking to become more famous.
“The briefing is not serving a constructive purpose anymore. It doesn’t need to exist every day, and it definitely doesn’t have to be on camera,” Spicer told the Washington Examiner in April 2018, before the gradual phase-out under White House communications director Bill Shine, who was hired in July and resigned Friday.
Martha Kumar, a historian who keeps records of press interactions as director of the White House Transition Project, said she could not independently verify the UCSB contention that it was the longest period of time without a briefing. But she said that it sounds right and indicated the paucity of briefings is unprecedented in modern times.
“I can’t remember such a period and I’ve been coming since the Ford administration,” said Kumar, who works out of the White House press room and regularly attends briefings.
Kumar said briefings have evolved over time. The first press secretary was appointed in 1929, and briefings weren’t televised until 1995. Before its current 49-seat configuration, the White House press briefing room had couches, and in the Clinton administration, the press secretaries would have morning gaggles in their office before briefings later in the day.
Although press secretaries retain the discretion to call on particular reporters, Kumar said briefings are fundamentally different from other formats in that they allow reporters to set the agenda.
“A briefing is a reporter’s opportunity, not just the White House’s, but the reporters’ opportunity on behalf of the public to ask questions about what they think is important,” she said.
[Opinion: Without press briefings, how will we know?]
