Statement About Briefing Room Seating

The White House Correspondents’ Association notes with concern the comments President-elect Donald Trump’s chief of staff-designate Reince Priebus made on today’s Hugh Hewitt program. There was a notable factual inaccuracy in Mr. Priebus’s remarks: News organizations have had assigned seats in the briefing room since those seats were installed in 1981. That was not an Obama-era innovation as Mr. Priebus suggested. The WHCA assumed responsibility for assigning the seats in the briefing room over the last two decades at the request of both Republican and Democratic administrations, who were mindful of the potential appearance of playing favorites if they assigned the seats themselves. The WHCA looks forward to meeting with the incoming administration to address questions and concerns on both sides about exactly this sort of issue.