He is the US president's most prominent political spokesman but his high profile didn't protect Sean Spicer from being temporarily banished from Air Force One. Spicer was among a group of Donald Trump's senior aides who were banned from the presidential aircraft a week ago after Trump erupted in frustration at his staff during an Oval Office meeting.
At the same time as Spicer is learning to find alternative means of transport, he is not spending a whole lot of time in front of the camera. Monday was the seventh straight day that Spicer, President Donald Trump's press secretary, declined to hold a televised White House press briefing, an unusually long drought for someone whose role is traditionally to be the most visible face of a presidential administration.
More World News Videos
- Video duration
- 00:28
Trump dodges WikiLeaks question
Trump dodges WikiLeaks question
During a meeting with small bank CEOs at the White House, President Trump declines to answer when a reporter asks a question about WikiLeaks.
Up Next
King Kong up in flames at Skull Island premiere
- Video duration
- 00:31
- Video duration
- 00:31
King Kong up in flames at Skull Island ...
King Kong up in flames at Skull Island premiere
A King Kong statue caught fire at the Kong: Skull Island premiere in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Vision Facebook/NGUYEN HUY CUONG
Up Next
Trailer: It doesn't happen to people like me
- Video duration
- 00:19
- Video duration
- 00:19
Trailer: It doesn't happen to people like ...
Trailer: It doesn't happen to people like me
The call every parent dreads. Foreign Correspondent reporter Hamish Macdonald heads deep into the Amazon jungle to uncover the truth about a missing son. Vision courtesy: ABC
Up Next
Did Spicer break a federal rule?
- Video duration
- 01:12
- Video duration
- 01:12
Did Spicer break a federal rule?
Did Spicer break a federal rule?
A series of tweets by White House spokesman Sean Spicer commenting on strong February job creation figures may have run afoul of federal guidance barring most officials from commenting on key economic data within an hour of its release.
Up Next
Professor's live interview gatecrashed by kids
- Video duration
- 01:16
- Video duration
- 01:16
Professor's live interview gatecrashed by ...
Professor's live interview gatecrashed by kids
"Is this kinda thing that goes 'viral' and gets weird?", asked Professor Robert Kelly after his children interrupted his live cross to the BBC. Yes Robert. Yes it does.
Up Next
PM praises Indonesia
- Video duration
- 01:41
- Video duration
- 01:41
PM praises Indonesia
PM praises Indonesia
On a visit to Jakarta, Malcolm Turnbull has singled out the majority Muslim country as an example of tolerance and respect. Courtesy ABC News 24.
Up Next
Malta looks to rebuild Azure Window
- Video duration
- 01:07
- Video duration
- 01:07
Malta looks to rebuild Azure Window
Malta looks to rebuild Azure Window
The Maltese government on Thursday said it is launching an initiative to come up with ways to recreate the Azure Window - a famed tourist attraction and one-time 'Game of Thrones' backdrop that collapsed into the sea this week.
Up Next
Trump, Trudeau offer divergent views on borders
- Video duration
- 02:31
- Video duration
- 02:31
Trump, Trudeau offer divergent views on ...
Trump, Trudeau offer divergent views on borders
At a joint news conference, President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered differing views on how to maintain secure borders, with Trudeau welcoming Syrian refugees, while Trump is attempting to block their entrance.
Trump dodges WikiLeaks question
During a meeting with small bank CEOs at the White House, President Trump declines to answer when a reporter asks a question about WikiLeaks.
Instead, Spicer, who since the inauguration had become a highly rated, if often-parodied, staple of daytime television, conducted a question-and-answer session with no cameras allowed, over the objections of the White House Correspondents' Association.
The briefing was certain to be contentious. Spicer responded for the first time to explosive and unproven allegations Trump made over the weekend that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had wiretapped his phones at Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.
Related Content
The public was not given a way to watch the briefing but was able to listen via an audio-only broadcast by PBS.
At one point, when a CNN reporter tried to interject with a question, Spicer pushed back, saying: "You're not on camera. You don't need to jump in." He called on the reporter later.
Past press secretaries said it was unusual that they would stay off television for a full week. And Spicer's absence from the airwaves coincides with a rough period: He was criticised by Trump in a Fox News interview, and his closest ally in the administration, Reince Priebus, the chief of staff, is under fire from rival factions within the White House.
Trump's West Wing is awash in palace intrigue, and people in and around the administration noted that two other representatives, Spicer's deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and the White House counsellor, Kellyanne Conway, appeared on morning television shows Monday to speak on the president's behalf. The president has also privately expressed frustration with the performance of his press office.
Press secretaries do not always perform their duties on TV. Like his predecessors in Democratic and Republican administrations, Spicer speaks with journalists in more informal, off-the-air settings several times a week, when the president is travelling, for instance. But these so-called gaggles are typically interspersed among more formal briefings carried live on cable news.
Former press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Mike McCurry have argued that cameras should not be allowed in the briefings at all, the idea being that the presence of cameras has helped turn the briefings into spectacles rather than considered discussions of policy.
In an email, Spicer said he had lived up to his pledge to hold briefings with reporters on a near-daily basis, "some on camera, some off". He noted that the White House had rolled out its revised executive order on immigration Monday, a nod to a past practice in which the press secretary did not hold an on-camera briefing on days featuring a major announcement.
Trump's Secretary of State, Secretary of Homeland Security and Attorney-General held an event with journalists on Monday, but the three officials did not respond to questions. And Trump signed his executive order without photographers or reporters on hand to record the event, a break from typical practice.
When reporters at Monday's briefing raised concerns about openness, Spicer defended his administration. "I've heard from several of you that we have gone above and beyond allowing the press into events," Spicer said, adding, "I think this president has been extremely transparent."
Hours after the briefing, Spicer was approached by reporters on a driveway outside the West Wing, where he acquiesced to answering a few questions on-camera.
Spicer did make one scheduled television appearance in the last week, on Fox & Friends, the Trump-friendly morning show, which ran a feature about the press secretary's life at the White House.
When the Fox interviewer, Abby Huntsman, asked Spicer whom he feared more, the president or the news media, Spicer, unsmiling, replied, "I don't fear anybody."
He added, "I don't want to disappoint this president."
New York Times