The Trump administration has held several press briefings with Cabinet secretaries and key officials while press secretary Stephanie Grisham has continued to avoid speaking in front of cameras.
On Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless had a press conference outside of the White House to announce the administration’s plan to ban flavored e-cigarettes.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had a press conference where they mostly fielded questions about Trump’s decision to fire John Bolton.
On Monday, Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection agency, had a press conference at the White House.
Despite these press-oriented events, Stephanie Grisham has yet to have a press briefing since taking over the press secretary job on July 1. Grisham has gone 72 days without speaking to the press, and it has been 184 days since the White House held a traditional press briefing, the last being on March 11.
In lieu of briefings, the White House has occasionally fielded questions from the White House driveway on an erratic basis.
Multiple stories have broken in that time period reflecting poorly on Trump and his administration, and the White House has avoided addressing the issues with the press.
The White House has not been subjected to in-depth questioning on the failing trade war, Trump’s unpopularity, the failure of his congressional allies to address gun violence, as well as ongoing questions about the general chaos and dishonesty that has enveloped the administration.
Instead, officials have been offered up, often with just a few minutes’ notice, to comment on issues affecting millions of people domestically and billions around the world.
Throughout it all, Grisham continues to hide.
Published with permission of The American Independent.
