WASHINGTON — The White House press corps emphasizes the negative too much, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Monday, as his initial press briefing showed a new approach to choosing questioners and the Trump administration's desire to get credit for its early work in office.
"It's not about one tweet. It's not about one picture. It's about a constant theme ... the default narrative is always negative," Spicer said in the briefing, which represented a departure from long-held protocol.
Spicer also announced a new effort to bring new types of reporters into the briefing: Four daily "Skype seats" in the press room, available to journalists from outlets not based in Washington.
Spicer jousted with reporters about the tense start to White House relations with the press — a short and combative statement he read to reporters Saturday afternoon about the size of the crowds for President Trump's inauguration last Friday.
"I was going to start with a recap of the inauguration, but I think we've covered that pretty well," the new White House press secretary said.
However, the briefing eventually turned to more questions about Saturday and crowd size. Spicer defended his still-disputed claim that Trump had the most-watched inauguration in history.
Fact-checkers bashed Spicer for his statement that "this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe" — even though aerial photographs showed much fewer people for Trump than for newly sworn-in President Obama eight years ago, as well as much lower mass transit ridership that day.
Defending that statement Monday, Spicer claimed the online viewership of YouTube, Facebook, and news networks.
Trump himself raised the crowd issue, claiming that 1 to 1.5 million people attended, even bringing it up during Saturday remarks to CIA employees. Aides said the president personally ordered Spicer to go out and deliver his statement Saturday.
During his Monday briefing, Spicer said that Trump's frustration with the crowd size story reflects frustration with what he called a trend: "There's this constant attempt to undermine his credibility and movement [Trump] represents," Spicer said.
The rest of Spicer's first briefing focused on standard White House and political fare, from discussion of the executive orders signed by Trump to the new president's upcoming meetings with the leaders of Great Britain and Mexico.
Change in protocol
Spicer's briefing drew a packed house to the briefing room, with reporters and television cameras lining the walls. He took questions for more than an hour, starting with a reporter from the New York Post and then moving to the Christian Broadcast Network. Press briefing protocol is that the representative of the Associated Press asks the first question.
Over the weekend, criticism of Spicer spread across social media and even spilled into the world of professional sports.
Steve Kerr, coach of basketball's Golden State Warriors, invoked the press secretary's name in joking about his long-ago, short playing stint with the Orlando Magic: "Sean Spicer will be talking about my career any second ... 14,000 points!"
Trump scorned many journalists throughout his presidential campaign, and there is evidence it helped him. Conservative Republicans have long distrusted the media, and the journalism profession's approval ratings are low — in some cases lower than those of politicians.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, an adviser to Trump during the campaign, described reporters as "mortal enemies," and told Fox News that Trump's team should realize that "every day they’re in office, whether it’s four years or eight years, every day they're going to have absolute hostility from the propaganda wing of the left.”
Combative at times, conciliatory at others, Spicer also cracked a joke about his predecessor, Obama White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
"I know that Josh Earnest was voted the most popular press secretary by the Press Corps," Spicer said. "So after reading — checking my Twitter feed — I shot Josh an email last night letting him know that he can rest easy, that his title is secure for at least the next few days."
PHOTOS: Inauguration Day 2017
