Just like the veteran reporter who use to sit in that seat, Helen Thomas‘ White House briefing room nameplate is gone. But turns out, it wasn’t removed to make way for the Associated Press, which is getting Thomas’ front-row seat. Instead, it has vanished.
It disappeared earlier this week, and nobody seems to know who took it. With tourists coming in and out of the briefing room every day, it seems plausible someone might have nabbed the name plate as a souvenir, one source told Yeas & Nays. Thomas, who was interviewed by Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher, doesn’t have it at home with her either.
The nameplate had remained on the seat since Thomas’ hasty retirement in June and was the only one in the White House briefing room that named an individual and not a news organization. The White House Correspondents’ Association did not plan to do anything special with it.
The entire James S. Brady Press Briefing Room will get a nameplate makeover to reflect the changes the White House Correspondents’ Association made to the seating chart on Aug. 1.
