-So I want to ask this.
Recently, Sean Spicer,
the President's first press secretary,
returned to the press briefing room
to ask a question for the news organization Newsmax.
Was that strange for you and your colleagues
to see someone who had been behind the podium
you know, sort of sitting in the pen with you guys?
-It was definitely surreal, because he, I think,
is the first White House press secretary to then question
as a member of the media the same President that he served.
So it was very surprising. I will tell you a quick story.
Because I literally clean everything like crazy,
I was sitting next to Sean Spicer,
but I was cleaning my chair so hard and so long
that I literally did not realize
that Sean Spicer was sitting next to me,
until he was like, "Hi," and I was like,
"Oh, my gosh! It's Sean Spicer."
So I think that tells you what moment we're living in,
that we're so crazy, I'm wiping down things
with hand sanitizer and have to sit next to
and am sitting next to the former
White House press secretary, who's now a member of the media.
-We have a newly former White House press secretary
joining the ranks -- that's Stephanie Grisham --
who, in her time having the job,
did not hold a single press conference.
What do you think that says in regards to the strategy
this administration seems to have
with their relationship to the press?
-Well, Stephanie Grisham never held
a White House press briefing
because President Trump, frankly, didn't want her to
and didn't see a need for press briefings.
And even when he now sees a need for press briefings,
largely because this is the number-one way that he's able
to speak to the media and speak to the American people
that he now thinks it's an important thing.
But I think what it tells us
is that the President understands media.
He understands prime time.
He understands how to choose what he's saying.
So I think that it tells you that the White House briefing
just wasn't important until he could no longer
hold rallies and can no longer hold other,
kind of alternate medias, and this is the number-one way
that he's able to get coverage.
-There was a lot of talk even before the last election,
"How do you cover a Trump rally?
Is it the right thing to put it on television,
unedited, live, as it's happening?"
The same question now is being asked
about these press conferences.
You know, there are some media critics
who don't think they should be on TV every night.
As somebody who's in that room, you know, how --
what do you think is the right way to present
those press briefings as they're happening?
-So, it's really not my job
to figure out whether or not we cover them live.
What I can say is that, when I'm covering them,
I try to add as much context and fact-checking as possible,
because I think, covering President Trump,
I've learned you have to have context.
You have to tell people, "Here's what the facts are,
and here's when he's wrong, and here's when he's right."
-I think for people like myself who watch at home,
one thing we enjoy to see -- enjoy seeing, excuse me --
is that sometimes the President will cut off a reporter
without asking -- answering a question.
And the next reporter will then follow-up on behalf
of their colleague who had the previous question.
Do you wish that happened more,
and do you think it's important for the press to be unified
in those moments where one will get cut off?
-I think it's important to follow-up
on each other's questions, for sure.
Especially, because some of the questions that we're asking
are the basic questions. The question is still,
"If you need a test, can you get a test?
Will we have enough ventilators?
What is the President doing
to make sure that people are gonna stay safe?
When is the White House gonna say, 'You know what?
Maybe the government can open back up
and we can all go back to our normal lives?'
How many people do we think are gonna die?"
Those are basic questions that, at times,
we're not getting answers to.
So I think those questions can and should continue to be asked.
-This is, obviously, a case where the President
has been aggressive with all walks of life
if they're journalists.
Yet it has been pointed out that he has been
particularly aggressive with female journalists
and with journalists of color.
Obviously, you tick both those boxes.
Do you feel that there's truth to that?
And what do you think that, again, says about this moment
we're living through?
-I think the President wants to have an opponent,
and he wants to have a foil at all times.
And whether or not that's going after me
or going after Jonathan Karl of ABC
or Peter Alexander of NBC, he just, at times,
I think, wants a fight, wants a punching bag.
And as we get into the fall,
he's gonna then turn to Joe Biden.
He's gonna turn to the media that's been, of course,
a long foil of his.
So I think in some ways, I'm not sure
if he's particularly picking on black women
as much as he's particularly picking on anyone
that he sees as a threat.
-Well, I really genuinely want to thank you
for bringing the integrity that you bring
to those White House press briefings.
We're really lucky
to have journalists like you in the room.
And thank you so much for making time for us tonight.
-Thanks so much for having me.