After weeks of darkness, the cameras will roll once again in the White House press briefing room.
New White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Monday on Twitter that the “TV cameras are back on.” Scaramucci confirmed later in the day that his tweet meant that the White House will once again be allowing the press briefings to be televised.
On Friday, his first day on the job, Scaramucci appeared on camera at the outset of the briefing, hours after Sean Spicer stepped down as White House press secretary. It was the first on-camera briefing that the White House had done in three weeks.
In the past few months, with Spicer as press secretary, televised briefings — long a fixture of American politics — became few and far between, causing consternation among the White House press corps. Outlets were, however, typically permitted to share audio recordings of the briefings after they were over.
Spicer said that the policy was in place largely to avoid stepping over President Trump’s own words each day.
Spicer resigned after President Trump appointed Scaramucci, a move Spicer opposed.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who replaced Spicer as press secretary, will be the one conducting the press briefings, Scaramucci said
Scaramucci had already made it clear, since accepting the job, that he didn’t support the old camera-free briefings.
On Sunday, Scaramucci told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday “we should put the cameras on.”
“I don’t think we need to have the cameras off,” Scaramucci said. “But if the President doesn’t want the cameras on, guess what? We’re not going to have the cameras on.”
— CNN’s Sara Murray contributed reporting.