People who followed the reports on the selective blocking of several media outlet from the White House would know Sean Spicer, the U.S political aide who served under President Trump as the 28th Press Secretary of the White House for eight months. He was also the Communications Director with the Republican National Committee – a position which he held from 2011 to 2017, he also functioned as the committee’s chief strategist from 2015 to 2017.
While serving the White House as its press secretary, Sean Spicer made several public statements which were completely false as well as controversial, leading to a rather contentious relationship which developed between him and the White House press corps. It was on the 21st of January 2017 that he made the first of such statements, according to Spicer, the crowd experienced at President Trump’s Inauguration was the largest to be ever seen at such event. He went further to accuse the press of deliberately underestimating the number of people who graced the ceremony. Continue reading to get the inside story on issues surrounding his resignation as well as what he is presently up to.
What Happened to Sean Spicer
During his tenure as the secretary of the White House, Sean Spicer’s relationship with the White House press corps was rather contentious. There was a selective blocking of many news outlets from an off-camera briefing with Spicer by the White House in February 2017. The affected news outlets include the likes of CNN, BBC, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times as well as the Politico who were supported by the White House Correspondents’ Association in strongly objecting to the move.
According to a report by The Washington Post, it came as an unusual and unexpected move that this administration would bar media outlets amid the president’s escalating battle against the media. Reporters from media houses like Time Magazine and Associated Press who were admitted to the briefing declined to attend to show their support to the protest of their fellow journalists.
On the 11th of July 2017, the Knight First Amendment Institute located at Columbia University filed a lawsuit against Sean Spicer, alongside president Trump and the director of social media at the White House Dan Scavino. The suit tagged, Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump was filed at United States federal court Manhattan and it alleged that the president and his officials at the White House violated the First Amendment when they blocked users from having access to Trump’s Twitter content.
Why Did Sean Spicer Resign?
On the 21st of July 2017, an announcement came from Sean Spicer on his intentions to resign from his duties as the Press Secretary of the White House. Spicer’s decision was made known immediately after Anthony Scaramucci’s appointment as communication director for the White House by President Trump. Prior to his resignation, he had sought a superior strategic communications role, but according to reports, the president had expressed dissatisfaction with his past performance as the Press secretary.
According to reports by The New York Times, Trump requested for Spicer stay on but he went ahead to announce his resignation after he told the president his mind on Scaramucci’s appointment which he vehemently disagreed with. Sean Spicer took to his Twitter to state that it had been a privilege and an honor to serve President Trump; he went further to express his wish to continue serving in the White House, through August 2017. However, he did not specify his new position. That same day, an announcement was made, naming Sarah Sanders as the new Press Secretary for the White House.
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What Is He Doing Now?
After spending several months in low profile, Sean Spicer surfaced on the 17th of September at the Emmy Awards where he spoofed his image by his predictions that the Emmys presentation is likely to garner “the largest spectators to ever witness an Emmys.” The next week saw him in an interview session with The New York Times as well as Good Morning America.
A revelation came that Spicer was actually keeping copious notes on things that he saw, did and heard during his eight-month tenure as the White House Press Secretary. The purported notes which provoked many speculations actually filled several notebooks. Already, people had started speculating on how the notes would be beneficial to the investigation of the special prosecutor Robert Mueller.
In December 2017, Sean Spicer made an announcement on The Sean Hannity Show about his intentions to publish a book titled The Briefing: Politics, the Press, and the President. The book which was slated to be released in July 2018 will x-ray his tenure with the administration of President Trump.
Another announcement came from Trump on the 31st of July 2019, stating his intentions to name Spicer as Member of the Board of Visitors to the US Naval Academy.
