There’s been less reporting about White House press secretary Sean Spicer and his daily gaffe machine. Personally, I thought “Holocaust Centers” should have been the turning point, but Spicer continued on as press secretary, even though his tenure has been increasingly fraught. Since Emperor Bigly’s bigly nine-day overseas trip, Spicer has been doing fewer on-camera briefings to the White House press corps though. He does smaller briefings, on and off the record, in his office or in other meeting rooms. The press corps has had enough though, especially after yesterday’s shenanigans. Spicey decided to do an off-camera, off-the-record briefing for journalists and… well, I’ll just let CNN’s Jim Acosta explain:

At off camera no audio briefing, Spicer took a question from a Russian reporter but not from CNN. #pravda

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017

Make no mistake about what we are all witnessing. This is a WH that is stonewalling the news media. Hiding behind no camera/no audio gaggles

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017

There is a suppression of information going on at this WH that would not be tolerated at a city council mtg or press conf with a state gov.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017

Call me old fashioned but I think the White House of the United States of America should have the backbone to answer questions on camera.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017

Other reporters pointed out that Spicer also refused to take questions from the Washington Post and Politico. So, not on camera, not on the record, and Spicey wouldn’t take questions from WaPo, Politico or CNN. Ridiculous. In case you couldn’t tell, Spicey won’t hold this job much longer. Politico reports that Spicey will likely be moving to an off-camera position, possibly crouching in some bushes, probably still in WH Communications, just not press secretary:

White House press secretary Sean Spicer is leading a search for his own replacement on the briefing room podium as part of a larger plan to shake up the White House communications operation, according to two people with knowledge of the effort. Last week, Spicer and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus reached out to Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham about the role of press secretary and Daily Mail editor David Martosko about the role of communications director, according to a White House official.

Spicer and Priebus have had preliminary discussions with Ingraham, and Martosko met with chief strategist Steve Bannon last week, according to the White House official. Ingraham declined to comment. In a phone call, Martosko said “I can’t hear you,” and then hung up. He did not respond to an email inquiry.

Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was considered for press secretary during the transition, is not interested in the position and has not been interviewed, according to the people familiar with the effort.

The search for new members of the White House communications team comes after Mike Dubke resigned from the communications director job last month, and Spicer once again took on dual roles as the White House faces numerous scandals, including the deepening Russia probes.

[From Politico]

Ha, I totally forgot that Mike Dubke resigned as Communications Director. Makes sense: would you want to work in any kind of communications/PR for Donald Trump? It also goes along with this recent WaPo story about how no one in the GOP wants to work for their administration, and that’s why this White House always seems to short-staffed and half-assed. It’s because they are.

Photos courtesy of Getty.