5 Possible Reasons Sean Spicer Is Getting Fired As White House Press Secretary
There was nothing funny about Tuesday’s termination of FBI director James Comey, except, of course, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer hiding “among” the bushes to avoid questions about Comey’s firing. Listed below are some possible reasons he might be getting fired by the president:
1. He was MIA for two days:
For one of the first times since President Trump was inaugurated, Spicer has not delivered a single press briefing on Wednesday or Thursday. After he was apparently in the bushes Tuesday, it was White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders who spoke at the podium Wednesday and Thursday. Then, National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McCaster delivered a conference Friday about President Donald Trump’s relations with the Middle East ahead of his upcoming overseas trip. Spicer returned to the podium Friday to address Comey’s departure and Trump’s first foreign trip.
2. The White House Correspondents’ Association issued a statement about press briefings:
WHCA president Jeff Mason posted the message to Twitter Friday. It read:
“White House briefings and press conferences provide substantive and symbolic opportunities for journalists to pose questions to officials at the highest levels of the U.S. government. That exercise, conducted in full view of our republic’s citizens, is clearly in line with the spirit of the First Amendment. Doing away with briefings would reduce accountability, transparency, and the opportunity for Americans to see that, in the U.S. system, no political figure is above being questioned. The White House Correspondents’ Association would object to any move that would threaten those constitutionally-protected principles.”
3. Trump threatened to get rid of press briefings Friday, seemingly taking aim at Spicer and Sanders:
He penned several tweets to his personal Twitter account. “The Fake Media is working overtime today!” Trump wrote. “As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy! Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future "press briefings" and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy.”
4. Anthony Noto, chief operating officer of Twitter and head of Twitter Ventures, issued a statement in response to Trump’s tweets:
He said: “[Twitter] is a way to add distribution not a substitute for a vibrant & free press. I don't support cancelling press briefing. Sorry [for[ confusion.”
5. Twitter users think Spicer will get canned:
Most people talked about how the possibility of him getting fired would effect comedian Melissa McCarthy, who impersonates the correspondent for “Saturday Night Live.”
For the record, the White House denied Spicer would be fired for hiding among the bushes Tuesday. “Oh my god, for the billionth time no,” an administration official told BuzzFeed News Thursday.
Spicer was absent because he was on Naval reserve duty when he was missing from the podium. He is slated to retire from the U.S. Navy after serving for 20 years. Skipping his duty to announce the termination of Comey would have been turned into a story, just like skipping the briefing turned into a media firestorm, officials told BuzzFeed News.
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