White House Hit Pause on Monday’s Coronavirus Task Force Press Briefing

The White House has canceled Monday night Coronavirus Task Force daily press briefing scheduled for Monday evening, the third straight day in a row since the pandemic began.

A daily guidance sent to members of the press was sent out Sunday evening, showing that a press briefing with members of the Coronavirus Task Force members listed for an on-camera for 5pm Eastern Monday evening. That plans were scrapped shortly after White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News would now being doing a Q&A with a small pool of reporters before a meeting with with industry executives scheduled for 4pm ET.

“We’re looking at different ways to showcase this president leading,” McEnany said on Fox News America “Newsroom” Monday morning. “The briefing is a key component of that. We will have briefings this week. But again, the media needs to not read into what’s happening and look at this as an opportunity for the president to speak to the American people.”

She added that there are no efforts to cut back on the press briefings despite reporting that the White House advising the President to scale back from holding them on a daily basis. McEnany also stated that the president might appear less frequently at them and the task force would return later this week to brief the media and the American people.

“Make no mistake, the president will be briefing the American people this week. Millions and millions tune in to watch him and see his leadership,” McEnany said.

Her interviews followed after President Trump signaled over the weekend in a tweet that he saw reason to stop the briefings due to the “Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately.”

“What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately. They get record ratings, & the American people get nothing but Fake News. Not worth the time & effort!” Trump tweeted on Saturday.

What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately. They get record ratings, & the American people get nothing but Fake News. Not worth the time & effort!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2020

On Friday, the press briefing lasted on 21 minutes without members taking any questions from the press in the room. It was the shortest briefing ever held since March, where Trump has held a total of 46 briefing since February 26.

Updated — The President will now hold a press conference in the Rose Garden at 5pm ET.