WASHINGTON — Final discussions over who will be President-elect Donald Trump’s press secretary will happen this weekend, and some candidates for the job and their factions are made final pitches not only to Trump but also to the public.
Trump transition team spokesman and Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer is reportedly the front-runner for the job.
According to sources, a battle between incoming White House senior advisor Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus may be brewing over who should be Trump’s press secretary.
Other names that have been floated include Fox News Channel’s Kimberly Guilfoyle, Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham, Trump transition team spokesman Jason Miller, Trump former campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson, and The Daily Mail’s David Martosko.
“Do you want a white male representing the White House when half the country thinks the President is a misogynist?” a Guilfoyle supporter in Trump’s inner circle told Politico. “Who do you want talking about Immigration? A Latino. When you have to make decisions about pro-life justices, do you want a man or a woman?”
Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly asked Spicer Thursday night whether he has been offered the job.
Spicer replied, “No, I have not.”
He said he would take the job if offered, or “anything the president asked him to do.”
“I’ve now had an opportunity to be around the president-elect since he won the election most of the time since he won the election and when he makes a decision he lets it be known and there’s no equivocating,” he said. “So, when he makes his mind up, he’ll let us know and get the word out.”
One source familiar with the transition talks told The Daily Caller that “this is not a done deal.”
“I know that there are meetings that are happening over the weekend that suggest to me this is not a done deal — that Sean Spicer is getting ahead of himself, and he’s taking his campaign for this job public in hopes that he can lock the transition team in,” the source said.
“I think he knows that this is not necessarily a ‘mission accomplished’ moment for him yet, so he’s aggressively campaigning for it in a way that’s designed to box them in to help them make this decision,” the source added.
Spicer, who was Communications Director for the House Republican Conference for a brief period during the George W. Bush era, established working relationships with members of the press on Capitol Hill and expanded his press contacts nationwide when he went to work as communications director at the RNC.
Why Spicer is the right choice: He’ll be a combative advocate for the president but has genuine relationships with members of the press.
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) December 15, 2016
@seanspicer My choice for RNC chief is my friend Sean Spicer, now its communications director. https://t.co/keKMwJCZGk
— David Horowitz (@horowitz39) November 15, 2016
A number of members of traditional and conservative media have built friendly relationships with the Rhode Island native despite his combativeness with correspondents at times.
“He’s definitely approaching his campaign for this job the way an inside-the-Beltway communications operative would. He’s going to rely on obviously his close friends who he has established relationships with based on all his time in Washington,” the source said.
He went on to say, “I think Sean Spicer does this knowing that he has the support of Reince Priebus. And there is no doubt that Reince Priebus has suggested publicly that this is part of a package deal,” adding, “I think there are a lot of other internal positions that people think Sean Spicer is much better suited for other than being the face of the biggest outsider presidency of our lifetime.”
Spicer denied that he and Priebus are a “package deal.”
“No. Absolutely not,” he told Kelly. “Mr. Trump doesn’t take package deals. He takes the best deals. Again, as I said, I’d be honored to do anything to advance his agenda. There never was a deal and he chose Reince based on the effectiveness of running the RNC and wanted to bring that to the White House to help the American people move forward.”
“So there’s never been any kind of deal. If there’s anyone who knows how to put together good deals it would be Donald Trump,” Spicer said.
Another source close to the transition team confirmed that although Spicer is indeed the lead candidate for the job no one has been chosen yet and, a “team of people” may even eventually emerge under him if he is chosen.
“Things at the White House press office will likely change dramatically” and the “liberal press may be in for the shock of their lives,” the source said.
