White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday defended the temporary suspension of daily press briefings over what President Trump has called the media’s habit of “rudely and inaccurately” covering her.
“I take questions from reporters every single day,” Sanders said on Fox News. “The idea that this White House isn’t accessible to the press is absolutely laughable. I’ve done over 100 briefings, answered thousands of questions from members of the press.”
On Tuesday, the president wrote on Twitter that he told Sanders “not to bother” holding briefings anymore because certain members of the media cover her “rudely and inaccurately” and the “word gets out anyway.”
The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the “podium” much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press. I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019
Sanders has clashed with several high-profile White House reporters in the past, including CNN correspondent Jim Acosta and American Urban Radio Networks correspondent April Ryan, who is also a CNN contributor.
“Look, we’re in the business of getting information to the American people, not making stars out of people that want to become contributors on CNN,” she said. “We’re more than happy to take questions, but we think there should be a certain level of decorum and a certain level of honesty and responsibility that comes with that.
“I stopped last night after I finished an interview where I took questions and took more questions from a gaggle of reporters standing right outside building behind me,” Sanders continued. “I’m sure I will do that in a few minutes. The president takes questions nearly every single day from reporters. And we’re on call 24 hours a day.”
She added that “we’ll see what happens” regarding the resumption of formal press briefings in the future.