State Department halts press briefings

The State Department has once again stopped holding press briefings as the agency seeks a permanent spokesperson, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Officials told the newspaper that State will not hold video briefings for at least two weeks.

For the time being, Foggy Bottom will brief reporters on background. Heather Nauert, an anchor for Fox News, will reportedly assume the role as the department’s spokesperson.

{mosads}Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his agency have been under fire in recent weeks over a lack of press access.

State opted not to take pool reporters on Tillerson’s first trip to East Asia as the country’s top diplomat. Tillerson instead took one reporter, from the conservative outlet Independent Journal Review, who wrote a profile of Tillerson but did not publish regular updates as pool reporters do.

The agency held its first briefing during the Trump administration on March 7, with acting spokesman Mark Toner, a holdover from the previous administration, leading the briefing.