President Trump took to one of his favorite communication tools again on Saturday in a vociferous storm of tweets that seemed to make clear his new communication staff will not be tamping down his use of Twitter.
A major shake up in the White House communication staff happened Friday. It began with reports that Anthony Scaramucci would be tapped as the new White House communications director. Within the hour, White House press secretary Sean Spicer resigned.
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With new leadership on his communication team — including Sarah Huckabee Sanders moving up from deputy to chief White House press secretary — Trump is refreshing his messaging strategy.
But that strategy will still include Twitter, a tool Trump’s team — and Trump himself — have consistently defended as his best means to take his message directly to the public. His use of Twitter has earned criticism from both sides of the aisle.
“As we have said before, the presidents ability to speak directly to America [through] social media is a good thing,” Sanders told The Hill.
Trump held court on a variety of topics Saturday, starting a little after 6:30 a.m. by blasting the media for a story based on intelligence leaks about Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
He went on to slam The New York Times for a “sick agenda” on U.S. national security and Democrats for being “obstructionists.”
He asked why his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton isn’t being investigated for possible Russian ties, and insisted his son Donald Trump Jr. “openly gave his e-mails to the media” after the revelation of his meeting with a Russian lawyer.
Trump also tweeted about his plans for the day — a commissioning ceremony for a new Naval aircraft carrier — and Scaramucci. He urged Senate Republicans to pass healthcare legislation.
Finally, Trump reserved the right to issue pardons, apparently referring to members of his administration currently under investigation for possible collusion in Russia’s attempt to hack the election. The White House typically refers questions on this topic to Trump’s outside counsel.
– This post was updated at 12:20 p.m.