White House spokespersons used to regularly ask journalists questions. The practice was abolished under President Trump. His new spokeswoman has now appeared in front of the journalists in the briefing room.
Washington (dpa) - The new spokeswoman for the White House wants to revive the press conferences, which have been suspended for more than a year, and promises not to lie.
"I will never lie to you," said Kayleigh McEnany at her first press conference in the White House briefing room. "You have my word on that." She plans to hold further press conferences. "It is my job to teach you the President (Donald Trump) mindset to convey these facts so that the President receives fair and accurate reporting and so that Americans receive fair and accurate information."
Traditionally, White House spokesmen regularly answered journalists' questions in the briefing room. McEnany's predecessor Sarah Sanders ended this practice, however. Sanders' last short press conference at the White House took place on March 11, 2019 - after a long pause - 417 days ago. Sanders announced her resignation as spokeswoman in June last year. Her successor, Stephanie Grisham, was in office for less than a year and did not hold a single press conference during that time. She has now returned to her previous post as spokeswoman for First Lady Melania Trump.
McEnany took over as White House spokeswoman in April. She was previously the spokeswoman for Trump's campaign team, who ran for a second term in the November presidential election. McEnany said she has access to Trump. "I've been with the President almost all day." Praise for McEnany's first appearance in the briefing room came immediately afterwards from Trump's favorite broadcaster Fox News: "I think she did a very good job," said the moderator.
Since the beginning of the Corona crisis, Trump has held press conferences almost every day, some of which lasted more than two hours. US media reported that consultants advised him against these appearances because they damaged his image. This was especially true after Trump recently raised the question of whether it might be helpful to inject people in the fight against the coronavirus disinfectant. Trump wants to ask voters questions on Sunday night at a Fox News "Town Hall" virtual event titled "America Together: Returning to Work".
Trump's own statements are not always trustworthy, that was true even before the Corona crisis. The fact checkers of the "Washington Post" have proven to him 18,000 false or misleading statements since taking office in early 2017 to the beginning of last month.
Washington Post Fact Check