Perhaps frustrated after being forced to wait an hour for the press briefing to begin and her history of non-answers, at least some reporters were feeling feisty after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders ended Tuesday’s press briefing after just 10 minutes.
“This was a 10-minute briefing, Sarah!” shouted a clearly frustrated Kristen Welker, NBC’s White House reporter.
Breakfast Media White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg also had a few words for Huckabee Sanders, firing out “do your job!” Mediaite reports.
Nope. That was me.
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) December 18, 2018
This was Huckabee Sanders’ first press briefing in more than 20 days, and the meeting began after the press was kept waiting for more than an hour, Newsweek reports. When reporters asked questions, her answers were brusque and curt. And she repeatedly noted they were ‘short on time.”
The briefing comes as legislators prepare for a potential government shutdown due to President Donald Trump’s steadfast inflexibility over his $5 billion request to fund his border wall.
The White House has apparently split with the president on this issue and Huckabee Sanders previously told reporters that they don’t want to shut down the government. This is certainly a different tack than the one Trump took last week during a tense meeting with Democrats when he told them he’d be “proud” to shut down the government over the border wall.
So, of course, reporters questioned her about this Tuesday and it became evident that the White House still has no clear plan on how to keep the government open and pay for the wall.
“At this point, we’re disappointed in the fact that they’ve yet to vote and pass something,” she said, referring to the Senate’s spending bill. “When they do that, we’ll make a determination whether we’re going to sign that.”
Huckabee Sanders’ shrinking presence in front of the media even spurred The Washington Post to invent a clever headline last month that stated:
“A turkey has spent more time on-camera this month than the press secretary.”
She’s defended the paucity of briefings lately, telling Fox News Sunday:
“I always think if you can hear directly from the president, and the press has a chance to ask the president of the United States questions directly, that’s infinitely better than talking to me.”
Huckabee Sanders added:
“We try to do that a lot, and you’ve seen us do that a lot over the past three weeks, and that’s going to take the place of a press briefing when you can talk to the president of the United States.”
Yeah, we’ve sure seen how THAT goes.
You can watch Sarah Huckabee Sanders doing her drive-by press conference in the video below.
As Sarah Huckabee Sanders ends White House press briefing after only a few minutes, reporter is heard yelling, "Do your job, Sarah!" https://t.co/o2KeLsffHD pic.twitter.com/cPTcbStrHF
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 18, 2018
Featured image by Mediaite via PBS Newshour
