Covering the Trump White House can be a 2-, or 3- or 5-person job. So when it comes to the daily on-camera White House briefings, some TV news networks have upped their presence in the briefing room, NBC News among them.
Today, NBC’s Peter Alexander was in the front row while Hallie Jackson was a few rows behind. Often Jackson is up front while other correspondents like Kristen Welker or Chris Jansing are also present. Today, both Jackson and Alexander peppered press secretary Sean Spicer at different times during the briefing. “When should Americans trust the president? Is it phony or real when he says that Pres. Obama was wiretapping?” That began a 5-minute back and forth about when the president is to believed or when he’s joking, especially when he uses twitter to communicate.
Spicer: Peter, let me answer the question.
Alexander: I’m listening..
Spicer: You’re not. Let me answer it..
A few minutes later, Jackson picked up where Alexander left off.
“Hold on! Hallie. You guys have like an NBC thing. Let me answer the question,” Spicer said.
