Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/31/politics/trump-latest/index.htmlToday, Sean Spicer will hold his White House press briefing off-camera, meaning it will be audio only. This has happened before, but the context around this moment in particular is important:
An audio-only briefing is the White House's attempt at controlling the narrative
- That Spicer's days as press secretary are limited has been a speculation over the past few weeks.
- We didn't see Spicer on camera at all during Trump's trip abroad.
- Trump has signaled that he considers himself the best spokesperson for the White House. He's even talked about canceling the daily press briefing.
Networks can't air live footage of Spicer's briefing -- but Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin will speak to reporters on camera at 11:30 a.m. ET.
That means networks are more likely to show his briefing, which may not have earned any coverage on its own. But in the absence of Spicer, Shulkin's policy briefing becomes the face of the administration today.
They did this with Trump leaking Israeli intel to Russians story. They had Spicey to jump into bushes while McMaster's was made face of administration and WH on that story. This also echoes those reports from sources that WH wants to move press briefings off the camera and maybe not do them daily anymore so expect more of this moving forward.