Earnest defends press briefings after Spicer meeting

by Jordan Fabian - 01/04/17 2:25 PM ET

White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday defended the daily press briefing one day after meeting with his successor, Sean Spicer, who has suggested the Trump administration could change the way it handles the press corps.

“I think there is a lot of symbolic value to doing this,” Earnest told reporters. “It’s good for the country, and I think the president believes it serves his interests well to have somebody out here making an argument for his policies.”

Asked whether Spicer intends to hold daily briefings, Earnest replied, “I’ll let him speak to whatever plans that he has.”

{mosads}Spicer has floated the possibility of significant changes to “this very stale” White House press operations, including altering the briefing format.

“How do we put America and Americans first and stop trying to figure out how we cater to, you know, pundits and the establishment class, big donors?” he told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt last week.

Those proposals have raised concerns among media organizations.

Spicer toured the White House on Tuesday afternoon and had an extended conversation with Earnest and White House communications director Jen Psaki.

The Republican National Committee official plans to fill both roles once he moves over to the White House.

Both Earnest and Spicer indicated the meeting went smoothly.

“It was a good conversation and I know that he’s excited about the opportunity and he should be,” Earnest said of Spicer. “Getting to work at the White House is a genuine honor.”

Spicer told Politico on Tuesday that both Earnest and Psaki “gave me a lot to think about and to share with the team.”

“They shared with me some of their advice,” Spicer continued. “I had my own version of a press conference with Josh and Jen and fired off questions on everything from logistics to how certain things currently operate.”

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