Former Fox News host spars with reporters at first State Department briefing

Former Fox News host Heather Nauert clashed with reporters at her first briefing as President Trump’s new State Department spokeswoman.

During the 40-minute press briefing, Nauert and reporters frequently spoke over each other, prompting Nauert to ask “may I finish, please?” Nauert also chided NBC’s Andrea Mitchell for asking multiple questions, saying “we have a lot of people in the room we need to get around to.”

Nauert also took issue with one of Mitchell’s questions that suggested the State Department, and not Senate Democrats, were responsible for the slow pace of confirmations.

“Is it a deliberate decision to wait to nominate people?” Mitchell asked Nauert.

“I would take issue first with the premise of your question,” Nauert responded firmly. “There are people moving through the pipeline.” 

When pressed further about what candidates were moving forward, Nauert mentioned the recent appointment of former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad to be President Trump’s ambassador to China and repeated her answer that the administration had many candidates “in the pipeline.”

“I’m sure, in the private sector, you can understand human resources,” Nauert told Mitchell. “We can’t always give you all of the information you want about each of the candidates.”

{mosads}Growing visibly annoyed with Mitchell’s continued questioning, Nauert stated that a number of ambassadors and top officials were in the middle of a lengthy security clearance process that Nauert herself had experienced in part. Nauert then moved on to other reporters.

Nauert was selected to be Trump’s State Department spokeswoman in April. Previously, she anchored ‘Fox and Friends’ on the Fox News Channel, which Trump himself has mentioned has “very honorable people” at a press conference.