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New Trump Communication Chief Scaramucci: 'The TV Cameras Are Back On'

Anthony Scaramucci / Getty
July 24, 2017

Newly minted White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci on Monday hinted that press briefings might change something reporters have been complaining about for months.

Under Sean Spicer's leadership as press secretary, White House press briefings moved away from video coverage, but Scaramucci said that cameras will be coming back. Scaramucci said Sunday on CNN that he favored televised briefings, and Monday he suggested that President Donald Trump will allow it.

https://twitter.com/Scaramucci/status/889508493639774213

"If you're asking me for my personal opinion—and maybe the president will be upset for giving my personal—we should put the cameras on," Scaramucci told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday. "That's no problem."

The White House has not released a statement, but it would mark a major shift for the press office to have regularly televised briefings. New press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders handled most of the briefings while she was still Spicer's deputy, but they had largely been off-camera.

Spicer claimed to stop doing most of the briefings on TV to prevent reporters from trying to become "YouTube stars," leading to more substantive conversations. Trump even suggested in May that the White House could cancel briefings altogether and issue written reports instead.