Press briefing starts off with a bang, as reporter asks why the American people should trust anything the White House says
- A reporter asked White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah whether the administration can be trusted given recent claims, including those denying personnel changes, it has made that have turned out to be inaccurate.
- "Why should we in this room and, more importantly, the American people, trust anything this administration is telling them?" the reporter asked.
- Shah insisted the White House always provides "the most accurate information" available to it at the time.
There was little beating around the bush during Monday's White House press briefing.
In the first question of the briefing, Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller asked deputy press secretary Raj Shah to explain why Americans should believe what the White House says.
Miller brought up a few recent instances in which the White House made claims that quickly turned out to be untrue, including the president's recent claim that he had full confidence in his attorneys before his top lawyer resigned last week, and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders's statement denying reports that national security adviser H.R. McMaster was on his way out just a week before McMaster announced his resignation.
"Why should we in this room and, more importantly, the American people, trust anything this administration is telling them?" Miller asked.
Shah responded matter-of-factly, insisting the White House provides reporters and, by extension, the public, with "the most accurate information" they have at the time they're asked.
"Our job as a press office and as an administration is to give you the best information we have available to us, the most accurate information, in a timely fashion," Shah said. "Sometimes the dynamics are fluid in any given situation ... facts and circumstances change."