White House press secretary Sean Spicer has resigned. Sarah Sanders will succeed him.
At 1:44 p.m. ET, Spicer tweeted from his @PressSec account that he would continue serving as press secretary through August.
It's been an honor & a privilege to serve @POTUS@realDonaldTrump & this amazing country. I will continue my service through August
— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) July 21, 2017
Fox News Channel says Sean Hannity has gotten an exclusive interview with Spicer, which will air Friday on Hannity at 10 p.m., as well as with new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, whose appointment reportedly triggered Spicer's decision to exit.
Spicer has been notable for his absence lately, with principal deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders doing most of the daily briefing heavy lifting, though lately off camera with only audio feeds.
The press secretary's resignation came Friday after President Donald Trump offered New York financier Anthony Scaramucci the role of White House communications director, an appointment Spicer disagreed with, according toThe New York Times. MSNBC said it had confirmed Spicer's resignation with "multiple sources."
Spicer had been an embattled figure as he worked to explain the president's barrage of tweets, including slamming the journalists he had to face every day, and became an object of wicked humor thanks to Melissa McCarthy's motorized rostrum lampoonon Saturday Night Live.
Spicer had been a spokesman for the Republican National Committee and for the Trump transition team before getting the top spokesperson job.
At a press conference with reporters from the White House Friday, Scaramucci said he "may" bring back on-camera briefings. His Friday briefing was on camera. He said he would talk to the president about holding a press conference soon. "At some point we will make sure that that happens," he said.
Asked what his view of the news media was, Scaramucci said he "did not like fake news," but pointed out he once hosted Wall Street Week for Fox News, joking that while he was never a journalists, he had "played one on TV."
He said he was going to try to make the press shop "a fun place to work" and would work to reduce "tension and anxiety" given that there were a lot of reporters in close quarters.
Scaramucci said he thought the president had used Twitter effectively to communicate with the public. He also said the president said he would report to him directly, rather than chief of staff Reince Priebus, though he said he would have no trouble working for Priebus.
Sanders said Spicer understood the President wanted to bring in new people, and felt it was important the team come in with a clean slate.
(Photo via Gage Skidmores Flickr. Image taken on June 20, 2017 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 9x16 aspect ratio.)
