Press Secretary Spicer Says White House Intends 'Never To Lie To You'
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) -- In his first White House press conference, Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the Trump administration's "intention is never to lie to you.''
Spicer faced questions Monday following a statement he made over the weekend in which he denounced the media's reporting that the crowd at Trump's inauguration was smaller than at his predecessor's eight years ago.
Spicer said "sometimes we may disagree'' about facts and said he wanted to have a "healthy relationship'' with the White House press corps.
"It's an honor to do this and I believe that we have to be honest with the American people, I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts," Spicer said. "There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out, but our intention is never to lie to you."
He added that "if we make a mistake, we'll do our best to correct'' it.
The press secretary said he was given incorrect information about Washington Metro's ridership when he addressed the issue Saturday but insisted that, when TV and online viewership are combined, that it was the most-watched inaugural in history.
"It was the most-watched inaugural. You look at just one network alone got 16.9 million people online," Spicer said. "Nevermind the audience that was here, 31 million people watched it on television, combine that with the tens of millions of people that watched it online on a device, it's unquestionable."
On Saturday, Spicer convened reporters at the White House during Trump's first full day in office to accuse them of engaging in "deliberately false reporting,'' claiming that photographs of the inauguration were intentionally framed in a way to minimize the crowd.
Photos of the National Mall make clear that the crowd did not extend to the Washington Monument, as it did for the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama.
During Monday's briefing, Spicer also said that beginning later this week, the White House will designate four "Skype seats'' in the White House briefing room. The idea is to provide an opportunity to ask question to a more diverse group of outlets that may not have the resources to hire a Washington correspondent.
The new administration has been discussing a series of potential changes to press operations.
Trump has long had a contentious relationship with the press.
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