Don eyes big digs for press
The incoming Trump administration is considering moving reporters out of the White House — to a nearby office building that would have space for more reporters — including sympathetic bloggers and talk-radio hosts.
The plan would move the media from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to either the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street or to the White House Conference Center at Lafayette Square, according to Esquire magazine.
Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Sunday that any such move would be made for space considerations.
He cited Trump’s press conference last week that drew 500 reporters — far more than the 49-seat Brady Room can hold.
The outgoing RNC chief also stuck to talking points that broadly define the “White House,” going well beyond the West Wing and including the Eisenhower conference room.
“So no one is moving out of the White House,” Priebus told ABC’s “This Week.”
“That is the White House, where you can fit four times the amount of people in the press conference, allowing more press, more press coverage from all over the country to have those press conferences. That’s what we’re talking about.”
But when asked specifically whether reporters would be allowed to work in the White House, Priebus was noncommittal.
“That hasn’t been determined,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
An unnamed source, however, told Esquire the move could be payback for a press that Trump sees as hostile to him.
“They are the opposition party,” the senior official told the magazine. “I want ’em out of the building. We are taking back the press room.”