CNN’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta reports Sean Spicer, who is both White House communications director and press secretary, would give up the comms director job “in an effort to lighten the load.”
A source familiar with internal communications said President Donald Trump is disappointed in Spicer’s performance during the first two weeks of the administration. The President “regrets it every day and blames [chief of staff Reince] Priebus,” the source added. But a senior administration official says Trump supports Spicer “100%.”
Through his daily press briefings carried live on the cable news networks, Spicer has the most visible role in the administration, after the president. The White House is looking at outside candidates to serve as communications director, Acosta’s source says.
An SNL sketch over the weekend in which Melissa McCarthy played a combative, fact-deficient, gum-chewing Spicer rattled the president, reports Politico. The sketch has more than 16.5 million views on YouTube.