Where Is Sean Spicer? White House Briefing Held Off-Camera Monday

Beleaguered White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has been mostly absent from the public eye recently. Where is he?

Spicer is still around, he had four briefings or gaggles last weeks, but mandated that they be off-camera. (Gaggle is a media term for a more informal meeting with reporters.)

On Monday, CNN reported that the White House scheduled a gaggle that day, but again barred it from being recorded. The move of having off-camera, recording-prohibited briefings miffed many members of the media, including CNN’s Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta.

READ: Sean Spicer Is Favorite Contender To Be US Ambassador To Ireland, Report Says

“It feels like we’re slowly but surely being dragged into what is a new normal in this country, where the president of the United States is allowed to insulate himself from answering hard questions,” Acosta said on CNN Monday. “I don’t know why we covered that gaggle today … if they can’t give us the answers to the questions on camera or where we can record the audio. They’re basically pointless at this point.”

President Donald Trump reacting to poor reviews of Spicer’s performance at the job tweeted about doing away with the briefings all together earlier this year.

“Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future 'press briefings' and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???,” Trump wrote at the time. He has repeatedly struck out against the media during his presidency.

In the briefing Monday, Spicer’s official reason for being off-camera was that he wanted to defer to Trump.

“I've said it since the beginning, the President spoke today, he was on camera. He'll make another comment today at the technology summit. And there are days that I'll decide that the President's voice should be the one that speaks, and iterate his priorities,” said Spicer, according to the Washington Post Monday.

Trump didn’t take questions in his media appearance with the Panamanian President Monday.

A new round of stories started circulating that the White House was looking to replace Spicer. He has been filling both the press secretary role, but also the communications director role since Mike Dubke resigned from that role last month.

Politico reported Monday that Spicer was searching for his own replacement in order to shake up the communications staff; Spicer is also gunning for a job more senior to both the roles.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy press secretary who intermittently steps in for Spicer, said that the White House, was looking for new people.

“We have sought input from many people as we look to expand our communications operation,” Sanders said to Politico Monday. “As he did in the beginning, Sean Spicer is managing both the communications and press office.”

Chief White House Strategist Steve Bannon said the reason we haven’t seen Spicer is that he got fatter.

READ: Will Sean Spicer Have A New White House Role? Press Secretary Looking For His Replacement, Reports Say

“Asked why the briefings are now routinely held off-camera, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said in a text message 'Sean got fatter,' and did not respond to a follow-up,” The Atlantic’s Rosie Gray reported Tuesday.

A Tuesday White House Briefing is scheduled for Tuesday, on-camera, Deadline reported. So Spicer will appear on TV at least one more time, until he finds a replacement, is fired, loses some weight, the briefings are canceled or he finds a bush to hide behind again.