White House press secretary Sarah Sanders held her first briefing in more than a month Thursday, but the questions didn’t come from working journalists.
Sanders made herself available for what the White House said was a “kids-only press briefing” held for children participating in “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.”
Journalists who cover President Donald Trump and the White House on a daily basis have been waiting for a similar opportunity since Feb. 28, the last time Sanders held a briefing.
The White House announced that the briefing would be off the record and not for broadcast, meaning news organizations would be barred from reporting on the Q-and-A or airing video of the session.
Both parties must agree that material is off the record, meaning it cannot be published. The Associated Press and some other news organizations did not agree to those terms.
A White House videographer and still photographers were in the room recording the event, at which Vice President Mike Pence also appeared and answered questions from the children of journalists and administration staffers.
Questions about Sanders’ credibility resurfaced after special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report revealed she admitted to investigators she made an unfounded claim that “countless” FBI agents had reached out to express support for Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey.