White House press secretary Spicer resigns

Unnamed officials linked Sean Spicer's resignation Friday with the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as the new White House communications director.

|
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer walks down the hallway during President Trump's visit to the Pentagon on July 20, 2017. Mr. Spicer announced his resignation on Friday.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer, President Trump's embattled spokesman during the first six months of his presidency, is resigning his position, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.

Mr. Spicer's decision appears to be linked to the appointment of a new White House communications director, New York financier Anthony Scaramucci. The people with knowledge of the decision spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the personnel matter publicly.

Spicer's daily press briefings had become must-see television until recent weeks when he took on a more behind-the-scenes role. Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has largely taken over the briefings, turning them into an off-camera event.

Spicer spent several years leading communications at the Republican National Committee (RNC) before helping Mr. Trump's campaign in the general election. He is close to White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, the former RNC chair, and several of the lower-ranking aides in the White House communications shop.

Mr. Priebus told The Associated Press that he supports Mr. Scaramucci "100 percent," despite reportedly trying to prevent the financier from getting multiple administration positions.

"We go back a long, long way and are very good friends," Priebus said of Scaramucci. "All good here."

Scaramucci is expected to play a visible role as one of Trump's defenders on television. But Spicer and other officials questioned his hiring as communications director ahead of the president's push to overhaul the tax system and other policy issues. One of the officials said Spicer objected to Trump's vision for the future of the press operation.

Spicer's resignation set off a chaotic scene in the White House briefing room, as journalists gathered near a doorway seeking more details on his departure. White House officials had yet to announce the timing of the daily briefing – and who would be conducting it.

Spicer's tenure got off to a rocky start. On Trump's first full day in office, Spicer lambasted journalists over coverage of the crowd size at the inauguration and stormed out of the briefing room without answering questions.

Spicer, who often displayed a fiery demeanor in tense on-camera exchanges with reporters, became part of culture in the way few people in his job have, particularly through an indelible impersonation by Melissa McCarthy on NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

She portrayed Spicer as a hostile figure who tore through the briefing room on a portable podium, willing to attack the press.

Spicer remained loyal to Trump but he frequently battled perceptions that he was not plugged in to what the president was thinking, and had to worry that Trump was watching and critiquing his performance from the Oval Office.

Throughout the start of the administration, there was always the possibility that Trump would undermine something Spicer said by simply sending out a tweet.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to White House press secretary Spicer resigns
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2017/0721/White-House-press-secretary-Spicer-resigns
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe