Today, U.S. Department of State spokesperson (and former Fox Newser) Heather Nauert gave her first press briefing to a packed room of reporters. The briefing took place more than a month after Nauert formally accepted the role on April 24.
The beginning of Nauert’s first briefing couldn’t have been more different from Sean Spicer‘s, the latter of which focused on “inauguration crowd size.” Her opening remarks were upbeat, as she praised the press corps “for the job that you do each and everyday in covering the State Department…I know how passionate you are about the issues and about press coverage.”
Topics discussed during the 39-minute briefing, which was televised on C-SPAN, included Sec. of State Rex Tillerson‘s trip to Australia for the Australia-United States Ministerial (AUSMIN) meeting, as well as a stop in New Zealand. “Secretary Tillerson and Secretary Mattis met with their counterparts to talk about cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond…defeating ISIS, and the work our forces will perform shoulder to shoulder in places like Afghanistan.”
Nauert also commented on the U.S. participation in the Kabul Process for Peace and Security Conference, “which brings together 30 international partners to discuss methods about peace, security and connectivity for Afghanistan and the region…”
.@statedeptspox Nauert comments on U.S. participation in the Kabul Process for Peace and Security Conference.#Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/6XWj2SLON0
— Department of State (@StateDept) June 6, 2017
Before arriving at the State Department, Nauert had been an anchor at Fox News almost continuously since 1998, with a two-year stop at ABC News in between (2005-2007). In 2009, she briefly added anchoring at the Fox-owned New York station WNYW.
Most recently, Nauert served as co-anchor of Fox & Friends First and news anchor for Fox & Friends.