The White House will hold a press briefing this afternoon just hours after Sean Spicer resigned as press secretary.
This press briefing is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. It can be viewed in the embedded YouTube player via The White House.
On Friday, it was announced that Sean Spicer is resigning as press secretary, reportedly because he was unhappy about Anthony Scaramucci becoming White House communications director. This detail was originally reported by The New York Times.
“The president requested that Mr. Spicer stay on, but Mr. Spicer told Mr. Trump that he believed the appointment was a major mistake, according to person with direct knowledge of the exchange,” The New York Times reported.
During today’s press briefing, the White House will be asked about this major staff shakeup and about the future of the White House office of communications.
Answering questions from reporters will be Principal White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who has been filling in for Sean Spicer regularly over the past few weeks. There has been speculation that Sanders might fill in for Spicer permanently; last month, a variety of news outlets including Politico reported that the White House was considering a communications office shakeup, and at the same time, Sarah Huckabee Sanders began hosting a number of press briefings in place of Sean Spicer. Sanders said at the time that the reason she was doing so was because Spicer was taking on additional duties in the White House.
“I mean, he is taking on a little bit of extra duty at this point,” Sanders said of Spicer during a press briefing in June. “It’s probably upgraded at this point given that we don’t have a communications director.”
This is the first White House press briefing to take place on camera since June 29th.