This reporter got first question at White House presser — after 'begging' staff to avoid briefing room

28 January

On Tuesday afternoon, January 28, Karoline Leavitt held her first briefing as White House press secretary for the second Trump Administration.

Leavitt forcefully defended President Donald Trump's policies during the briefing, aggressively attacking the Biden Administration more than once.

The first question went to Axios' Mike Allen, but two weeks earlier, on January 14, Allen and his colleague Jim VandeHei told Vanity Fair's Natalie Korach that they would prefer their staff not be in the White House briefing room at all.

Allen told Korach, "We tell our reporters across all topics, 'If you look around and there are two or more other reporters there, you can leave. There's no news to be had.'"

And VandeHei told Korach, "Where the press operation sits or what they say or do about the reporters is really meaningless to us if our reporters are doing their job. We beg our reporters to never go to a White House press briefing…. That's a good chunk of your day lost."

The Washington Post's Natalie Allison noted the irony of Leavitt giving Allen the first question in a January 28 post on X, formerly twitter.

Allison, tweeting Korach's January 14 reporting for Vanity Fair, posted, "Axios' Mike Allen gets first question at the first White House press room briefing, in the 'new media seat.' Two weeks ago to Vanity Fair: 'We beg our reporters to never go to a White House press briefing.'"

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