President Donald Trump is being severely criticized for holding what was billed as a surprise “press briefing” just hours after Nancy Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House.
Reporters expecting press secretary Sarah Sanders were surprised to see President Trump, and for the first time ever, walk to the White House press room podium. He was surrounded not by high-level members of his administration, but by border patrol agents identified as members of the border patrol union.
The “briefing” was not an actual press briefing. President Trump refused to take questions, and spoke for just a few minutes. In a stunning move, he allowed Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, to speak. The NBPC is the union that represents federal border patrol agents.
Former DOJ spokesperson for Attorney General Eric Holder, Matthew Miller, and others, scalded Trump for using federal agents for political purposes:
As the president walked away CNN’s Kaitlan Collins shouted, “Will there be no questions [taken] today?” She followed up with this criticism:
Needless to say, President Trump was thoroughly trashed in the media and on social media, especially for trying to usurp Speaker Pelosi’s time in the spotlight.
“Donald Trump couldn’t stand it that Nancy Pelosi was the center of attention today,” conservative pundit Bill Kristol said on CNN, “so he had to butt in at 4:30 in the afternoon. It’s pretty disgraceful.”
CNN’s Brianna Keilar added: “To be clear, this is a stunt.”
CNN Senior White House Correspondent:
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