Well-known figures in the Grand Old Party, including two former White House press secretaries, are celebrating reports that the Trump administration may take over seating arrangements in the Brady Press Briefing Room.
The White House plans to seize control of seating assignments, taking that responsibility away from the White House Correspondents’ Association, according to Axios, stepping up its battles with the media members assigned to cover the president.
WHCA has traditionally assigned seats for the room, which has 49 seats set up in seven rows of seven, with the largest news outlets traditionally getting the best seats and having them assigned for years at a time.
However, former press secretary Ari Fleischer said tradition does not date back as far as some may think.
“The decision re: who gets to sit in taxpayer provided seats in a government building should not be made by journalists,” he posted on X. “It should be made by the press sec, as was standard until 2006.”
Fleischer, who was George W. Bush’s White House press secretary from 2001 to 2003, told the Washington Examiner in an interview that President Ronald Reagan created the 49-seat arrangement in 1981, and that from that time through a renovation of the briefing room in 2006, the White House always had final say in seating choices.
“People either don’t have memories, or they have very short memories,” he said. “The White House made the decision of who sits where [before 2006]. They would make it in collaboration with the WHCA, but it was my decision when I was press secretary.”
Fleischer recalled pulling the seats held by Time and Newsweek because those outlets were not regularly showing up to briefings, which caused a minor controversy at the time.
“I thought it was unfair to those who showed up every day,” Fleischer said, adding that he is fine with returning seating arrangements to the White House’s discretion if it comes to that.
“It always struck me that these are taxpayer-funded seats in a government building, and it’s just wrong to let a private-sector organization make a determination on how to use taxpayer property,” he said. “I think that’s bad government and ethically wrong.”
Another former press secretary, former Trump spokesman Sean Spicer, also celebrated the news, posting, “Yes to this – keeping it going.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) made her support known as well.
“If the FAKE NEWS wants to continue to attack, smear, and lie about President Trump and his administration then they can do it outside the White House fence!!” she posted on X.
But any briefing room shake-up is likely to escalate the White House’s battles with the WHCA.
The Trump White House first kicked the Associated Press out of the Oval Office and off of Air Force One because the outlet refused to go along with President Donald Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
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It then took over the process of deciding who would serve in the White House press pool, again removing the outlet from rotations, and now may be changing the briefing room arrangements where the outlet has long held the center seat in the front row. The news outlet is suing the Trump administration, claiming viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the White House and the WHCA for comment.
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