The Incoming Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, told ABC that the news conferences traditionally held in the White House press room could be moved to a larger space outside of the White House to allow for “more press, more coverage from all over the country.”
This announcement from Priebus came just days after Esquire released a piece suggesting that the press is running the risk of being cut out of new conferences in the White House altogether. The article by Peter J. Boyer stated:
“According to three senior officials on the transition team, a plan to evict the press corps from the White House is under serious consideration by the incoming Trump Administration. If the plan goes through, one of the officials said, the media will be removed from the cozy confines of the White House press room, where it has worked for several decades. Members of the press will be relocated to the White House Conference Center—near Lafayette Square—or to a space in the Old Executive Office Building, next door to the White House. ‘There has been no decision,’ Sean Spicer, Trump’s press secretary, said about the plan today. But Spicer acknowledged that ‘there has been some discussion about how to do it.'”
Priebus, however, attempted to counteract the article by skirting around the issue and alleging the change would be to simply create more space for more press to be part of Trump’s briefings. Priebus stated:
“You can fit four times the amount of people in the press conference, allowing more press, more coverage from all over the country. Some of this is getting way out of whack, and I think people should be encouraged that we have so many people who want to participate.”
Whether or not the new administration plans on removing the press working area right outside of the Oval Office has yet to be seen, but from the looks of it, the press will be taking news conference briefings from outside of the White House.
Inquiring minds wonder whether the president himself will also be in this new space or will he be in the comfort of the press room, broadcasting himself to the media on the outskirts of the White House?
With this arrangement, it seems Trump could record anything he would like and avoid the scrutinizing questions of the press who no longer agree with the White House stance on the nation.
Just another dangerous move towards the dictatorship we’ve seen coming the entire time.
Featured image via MyLook.
