Nothing is official, but signs in Washington this week point to President-elect Donald Trump naming Sean Spicer as his White House press secretary.
Several fellow members of the White House Correspondents Association told me they expect Trump to announce the appointment of Spicer, communications director for soon-to-be White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus during Priebus' tenure as Republican National Chairman from 2010-16.
Spicer, 45, has recently emerged as the spokesman for the Trump transition team's now-regular phone-in press briefings. In that capacity, he told Fox News' Megyn Kelly on Dec. 15 the briefings for White House correspondents would continue under Trump but not necessarily in the format familiar to millions of TV viewers.
"Well, I think we have to look at everything. And so I don't know that it needs to be daily. I don't know that they all need to be on camera," Spicer told Kelly. "And I think that's a view shared by a lot of former White House press secretaries, a view by some in the media, in fact, that the White House press briefings have become somewhat of a spectacle."
Based on his oft-feisty exchanges with reporters during the presidential campaign, U.S. Naval Reserve Commander Spicer is predicted by many who covered him to be a combative White House press secretary in the mold of Richard Nixon’s Ron Ziegler and George W. Bush's Ari Fleischer.
During the Republican nomination fight, RNC spokesman Spicer voiced the party's criticism of Trump's controversial statements regarding illegal immigrants and remarks about John McCain's service in Vietnam. But after Trump became the nominee and worked closely with the RNC, Spicer emerged as his main spokesman and "attack dog" with hostile reporters.
Joining Spicer on the daily briefings from the transition is fellow spokesman Jason Miller. White House reporters expect Miller, formerly a top strategist for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will be named deputy press secretary.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
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