President Donald Trump appeared to confirm that he is considering relocating the press from the White House in a record-breaking post on Truth Social.
When comedian Bill Maher had former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on his “Real Time” show Friday, she indicated that Trump had been “flirting” with turning the briefing room into a swimming pool.
But Trump’s 1,300-word Truth Social tirade against Maher Sunday evening appeared to rule out the possibility of returning the space to its original purpose — while confirming that he is mulling whether to remove the press from the White House entirely, as reports indicated last week.
“I am not building a swimming pool in the White House Briefing Room, and never had any intention of doing so,” Trump wrote Sunday night in the post, his longest ever on the platform. “I am thinking about moving the Press, and putting them in a different location, but I will use that location for very badly needed space.”
Trending
The White House referred The Washington Sun to Trump’s post when asked about any plans to relocate the press and reimagine the briefing room.
Maher, who Trump called a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER,” is the latest member of the media to draw the fury of the president. Maher went to the White House for a dinner with Trump earlier this month, but he proceeded to criticize the administration and point out Trump’s low approval rating.
The media has increasingly come under fire during Trump’s second term. In recent weeks, Trump has called one journalist a “dummy,” another “a stupid person” and a third “a sick person.”
The White House is currently locked in ongoing litigation with three news outlets — CNN, MS NOW and Politico — that had their press passes revoked in September at Trump’s direction, a decision that effectively banned them from White House grounds. The administration quickly appealed an Oct. 13 injunction in the case that reinstated their access, but some journalists have still been restricted from traveling with the president aboard Air Force One. (The Washington Sun has signed onto an amicus brief filed in support of the news outlets.)
The New York Times reported last week that Trump had pitched Leavitt on the idea of moving the press corps out of the briefing room in August, telling aides he was in favor of bringing back a swimming pool for the space. The Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the West Wing could serve as a new base for credentialed media, the Times reported.
Author
