Incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Wednesday said President-elect Donald Trump “absolutely” intends to do “tough” interviews with the media.
“What he [Trump] did today – everyone in the mainstream media, some of the left-wing media, all got questions in. He’s not afraid of anybody right now,” Spicer told Fox News host Tucker Carlson when asked if he would be up for “tough” questions. “I think he aptly noted with respect to CNN, he’s not afraid to back down from anyone, right, left, independent, center. He is tough. He will answer the questions. And deliver a very forceful message.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Spicer and Trump separately decried Buzzfeed and CNN for publishing unconfirmed reports about Trump and Russia. While members of media at both press conferences pushed back, Trump focused his responses to questions on his vision for the country, not always directly answering the reporters. Spicer said if reporters approach his boss in a “polite and respectful manner,” he will treat them kindly. But a “rude” approach, would not be tolerated.
The statement comes hours after Spicer told CNN reporter Jim Acosta he would have him removed if he spoke “disrespectfully” to Trump in the future. The comment prompted a Twitter discussion between the two on Wednesday evening, with Acosta claiming Spicer had threatened to throw him out of today’s news conference if he asked another question.
Carlson then asked why Spicer’s former employer, the Republican National Committee, reserved more than $1 million of ad space on Buzzfeed’s website during the campaign when he has called the company’s reporting “outrageous and highly irresponsible.”
Spicer defended the move as part of the RNC’s strategy to reserve time across 56 different platforms, which the organization would then pick the most important ones to target potential Trump voters on depending who the data told them to go after.
“Did you really think you are going to find Trump voters on an irresponsible left-wing blog?” Carlson asked.
“The goal was to make sure that we were wherever they were going to be,” Spicer said. “There were people even on the far-left that were upset with Hillary Clinton, that didn’t trust her, there were open to a Trump message … we had to be prepared. We put no money down on the platform.”
