Sean Michael Spicer (born September 23, 1971) is the White House press secretary and former communications director for President Donald Trump. As Press Secretary, Spicer has drawn controversy for making numerous false or controversial statements, as well as displaying combative behavior with the press. Spicer's first official statement as press secretary was criticized for providing what became called "alternative facts" regarding the inauguration's attendance numbers. In his statement, he also claimed that the inauguration was "the most watched ever", but subsequently stated that he was referring not only to live attendees at the ceremony or those watching on TV, but also viewers who watched the inauguration online. However, no conclusive figures are available for online viewers, so the claim is unverifiable. On January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration and two days before his first official press conference, Spicer made a statement to the press in which he was highly critical of the media, saying they had underestimated the size of the crowds for President Trump's inaugural ceremony. He claimed that the ceremony had drawn the "largest audience to ever to witness an inauguration, period – both in person and around the globe." But as many sources immediately pointed out, that claim was false. Spicer falsely accused the press of altering images of the event to minimize the size of the crowds. He said floor coverings over the grass were to blame for a visual effect that made the audience look smaller, and stated they had never been used before despite the fact that they had been used in 2013 for the preceding second inauguration of Barack Obama. He also used incorrect figures to claim that Metro ridership was higher during Trump's inauguration than during Obama's, when in fact it was lower than either of Obama's inaugurations. Spicer took no questions after his statement. Later, Spicer defended his previous statements by saying "sometimes we can disagree with the facts". It was subsequently reported that Spicer had made the statement on direct orders from Trump, who was furious at what he considered unfair press coverage of his inauguration. In response to the briefing, conservative political analyst Bill Kristol wrote: "It is embarrassing, as an American, to watch this briefing by Sean Spicer from the podium at the White House." Vanity Fair described Spicer's statement as "peppered with lies," and The Atlantic described Spicer's briefing as "bizarre." The article referred to the "Trump administration's needless lies" and noted that Spicer's statements appeared to involve a "deliberate attempt to mislead". Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post gave Spicer's claims four Pinocchios, claiming that he was so appalled by the press secretary's performance that he wished he could have given him five Pinocchios instead of the maximum number of four. Trump's team defended Spicer's statements. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus stated that the purpose of Spicer's conference was to call out what he called "dishonesty in the media" and their "obsession with delegitimizing the president". Trump's campaign strategist and counselor, Kellyanne Conway, told NBC's Chuck Todd that Trump's inauguration crowd numbers could not be proved nor quantified and that the press secretary was simply giving "alternative facts." Todd responded by saying, "Alternative facts are not facts. They are falsehoods." Two days later, on January 23, 2017, Spicer held his first official White House press conference and took questions from reporters. Asked about attendance at the inauguration, he said his definition of a viewing audience also included individuals who watched the event on television and social media online, claiming that online viewership must have been in the "tens of millions". Spicer's argument was based on the reported figure of 16.9 million people who began streaming the inauguration on CNN's website. This argument has been criticized because the 16.9 million streams included people who started the stream and then left. On February 7, 2017, CNN reported that "President Donald Trump is disappointed in Spicer's performance during the first two weeks of the administration." Trump also is upset at White House chief of staff Reince Priebus for recommending Spicer, the network reported. Trump "regrets it every day and blames Priebus," a White House source told CNN. His role as temporary Communications Director was filled by Mike Dubke on March 6, 2017. On April 11, 2017, Sean Spicer claimed in a press briefing that Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons on his own people like Syrian Bashar Al-Assad. His remarks were widely criticized, with the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect calling for Trump to fire Spicer over the comments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Spicer

• published: 11 Apr 2017
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