What The Hell America!

The White House opened up its briefing room to “new media” in January, a category that encompasses professional journalists as well as podcasters, influencers, and other news-related content creators. In Trump’s second term, these special few are allowed the first opportunity to speak during each biweekly session, during which Leavitt will typically answer 15 to 20 questions.

So far, some of the occupants of the “new media” chair have included content creators from Breitbart, the right-wing video platform Rumble, BreakingPoints, the Daily Wire, former Newsmax host Mark Halperin, and the right-wing substack Washington Reporter.

The Trump administration announced in March that it would be conducting a total shakeup of the briefing room’s seating chart, bumping heads with the White House Correspondents’ Association—an independent group that has traditionally overseen seat assignments—as the Trump administration attempts to control who gets their questions answered.