Facing a wave of public protests about police brutality that closed in on the White House, President Trump has maintained an unusually disciplined approach, avoiding the freewheeling exchanges with journalists that have defined his communications strategy.
A string of White House events has been closed to reporters, suggesting a new effort to control messaging, according to former and current administration officials.
“You don’t need to be a genius to see what’s going on,” said one official.
Other officials disputed the analysis, however, saying other weeks had come and gone with more or fewer opportunities for the president to take questions.
The president faces dueling crises less than five months before the election. The economic fallout from the novel coronavirus continues to cast a long shadow while the past week has seen protests close in on the White House following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
On Monday, White House pool reporters were invited at the last minute into a roundtable event with law enforcement officials, as calls grew among Democrats for defunding police forces.
“There won’t be defunding, there won’t be dismantling of our police, and there is not going to be any disbanding of our police,” said Trump.
But reporters were ushered from the room before they could ask questions.
On Friday, the president flew out on Marine One for a visit to Maine but did not stop to take questions from journalists on the south lawn. The question and answer sessions, held above the roar of helicopter engines, dubbed “Chopper Time” by observers, have been one of Trump’s favorite ways to deliver his message.
The president has not been silent. His Twitter feed has delivered a running commentary on the need for law and order while trumpeting last week’s positive jobs figures and endorsing congressional allies.
He also appeared for interviews with his former press secretary Sean Spicer on the conservative broadcaster Newsmax and for Fox Radio.
But his interaction with the White House press corps has been limited.
On Friday, a Rose Garden event billed by the president as a “news conference” on jobs numbers ended without questions. The closest reporters came was a shouted query by a PBS NewsHour reporter asking if he had plans to address systemic racism.
“What’s happened to our country and what you now see that’s been happening is the greatest thing that can happen for race relations, for the African American community, for the Asian American, for the Hispanic American community, for women, for everything because our country is so strong, and that’s what my plan is,” he said. “We’re going to have the strongest economy in the world.”
During the past week, the president has held eight events that were closed to press. While some are routinely closed, such as his intelligence briefing, other meetings frequently begin with an opportunity for video and a handful of shouted questions.
Similar discipline was on display during last year’s impeachment hearings. The president surprised journalists as he departed the White House on one occasion in November by delivering prepared remarks without taking questions — a move insiders said was to ensure that key messages were amplified without being overtaken by other comments.
“It makes sense to keep a tight grip on things when you are battling on several fronts,” said a senior administration official. “But we also know that it won’t be long before it is business as usual.”
But another senior administration official said it was wrong to jump to conclusions.
“The White House press corps knows firsthand that President Trump has provided unprecedented access and transparency to the American people and media since taking office,” said the official. “Last week, press secretary McEnany held two press briefings to answer questions on behalf of the president as she has done in previous weeks, and the press office is available 24/7 to answer other questions. Any speculation that the president was hiding from the press or trying a new strategy last week is absolutely false.”
