Spicer accuses press of turning briefings into 'game of gotcha'
Spicer: President's Comey tweet speaks for itself
White House press secretary briefs reporters
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer Friday accused the press of turning daily briefings into a “game of gotcha,” just hours after Trump mulled on Twitter about canceling the White House briefings.
Trump tweeted out Friday morning -- apparently in response to claims that members of the press team had given inaccurate information about the timeline of FBI Director James Comey’s firing -- that he was considering ending the press briefings in favor of “written responses.”
Asked about the tweets at the daily press briefing, Spicer declined to say if Trump was considering cancelling the briefings, but noted Trump’s “dismay” about the press turning the forums into a “game of gotcha.”
“I think he’s a little dismayed, as well as a lot of people, that we come out here and try to do everything we can to provide you and with the American people with what he’s doing on their behalf … and yet we see time and time again an attempt to parse every little word and make it more of a game of gotcha as opposed to really trying figure out what the policies are, why it’s being pursued or what the update is on this.
“I think that’s where there’s a lot of dismay and I don’t think it’s alone what the president feels,” he added.
The president's press team took heat after the president himself seemed to contradict the White House narrative on Comey's ouster.
The White House had said earlier this week that Comey was fired only after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommended it in a meeting with Trump on Monday.
But in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt Thursday, Trump said he would have fired Comey regardless of the recommendation.